Gobert: ''Winning medals and titles with France is a constant goal for me''

PARIS (France) - It's been nine years since France last took the top spot on the podium of a major international tournament, and Rudy Gobert is determined to help Les Bleus end their title drought.

Since winning the FIBA EuroBasket title in 2013, France have been bronze medalists on three occasions - at the following EuroBasket on home soil as well as two FIBA Basketball World Cups - and also finished runners-up to the United States at the Tokyo 2020 Men's Basketball Tournament last summer.

"THE FEELING OF WINNING, AND WINNING WITH YOUR COUNTRY SOUNDS PERFECT."

 
Gobert was part of the French squad at each of those four tournaments - making his senior debut at the 2014 FIBA World Cup - and the aim now is to turn those bronze and silver medals into the most precious metal.

"That is the goal," Gobert told fiba.basketball. "I want to add gold to my career; gold medals and titles. The feeling of winning, and winning with your country sounds perfect. I want to live this kind of experience, and I am working hard every single day to reach those goals.

"Playing for the national team, representing your country is unique. Winning medals and titles with 'Les Bleus' is a constant goal for me," he added.

Despite not clearing the final hurdle at major tournaments, France have firmly established themselves amongst the world's best - currently fourth in the FIBA World Rankings, Presented by NIKE - and have one of the strongest pools of talent in basketball.

Gobert, along with Evan Fournier and Nicolas Batum, will be called upon to lead the team again later this year, with the likes of exciting prospect Victor Wembanyama coming through as part of the next generation.

The challenge becomes to maintain that consistency at the highest level, whilst taking the next steps to deliver even better results.

"I know that we know that we are one of the top teams in the world and that we can achieve more things," said Gobert. "Win titles, win more medals and keep writing great pages in the history book of French basketball. It was good to win the silver medal in the Olympics, but we want to keep going on the medal streak.

"We are hungry, we always want more and more. We know we still have room for improvement, and we have been working very well, so I am confident for the future to come. We want to keep building on the last couple of years, as we have been having great results and performances in the last few competitions we played."

"When you compete at the highest level and you want to stay between the top teams in the world, you always have to keep working in order to keep improving and keep being that competitive.

"Every team that is ambitious has to do so, you can’t rely on your current strengths and just stop trying to get better. We are driven by the goal to work hard and come back as better players, individually and collectively, for every competition we are going to participate to.

"The other top teams are also going to want the same thing, they keep working to get better and get closer every year to reach their maximum potential. We all know we have room for improvement, and we work hard in order to become a team that makes history."

Gobert has established himself as one of the world's best defensive players with three NBA Defensive Player of the Year awards in the space of the last four seasons at Utah Jazz.

The seven-footer is a focal point at both ends of the floor for France and has been his country's most efficient performer at the last two international tournaments.

At the Tokyo Olympics, Gobert averaged 12.2 points and 9.3 rebounds per game having posted similar numbers with 10.1 points, 9.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per outing at the World Cup in 2019.

The 29-year-old missed the final phase of EuroBasket in 2017 as France were knocked out in the Round of 16 stage by Germany in Istanbul, Turkey - officially finishing in 12th place for their worst showing in over 50 years.

That left France with just the solitary EuroBasket title in 38 appearances and that is obviously something that they want to address.

"I know, and we want to change that," Gobert said of their EuroBasket history. "We want to add more EuroBasket trophies to our cabinet, and win.

"We are very ambitious, we always look to win and keep France between the top teams. The level at EuroBasket is very high, and many teams are going to fight for the medals and for the title.

"The race is very open, probably more than ever. So many national teams play at a very good level, and once you get to the knockout stages, everything is possible. We want to win, we aim for the title. France has to aim for the title every time we start a competition, that is how ambitious we are."

"THERE ARE NO SMALL TEAMS AT EUROBASKET. THE LEVEL IS VERY HIGH, AND IN ONE GAME, EVERY TEAM CAN WIN AGAINST ANYONE."

France will head to Cologne for the group phase action at EuroBasket later this year. The former winners go up against Slovenia, Lithuania, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Hungary and Germany - facing the Group B hosts on the opening day of the tournament.

Gobert acknowledges what each nation brings to the table in a competitive group with only four of the six sides advancing to the knockout stages in Berlin, Germany.

"[Germany] have been growing a lot in the last couple of years, and they have a very competitive national team," he said. "The German fans are going to be their sixth man, so that is going to be a tough battle.

"Lithuania and Slovenia are two very good teams, very competitive and they will be very motivated against us, as they have the same ambition as we do, which is to go far in the tournament and try to win it.

"Hungary and Bosnia and Herzegovina are going to be great teams too, as there are no small teams in the EuroBasket anymore. The level is very high, and in one game, every team can win against anyone. That is going to be a very interesting group stage, and we will have to bring our A-game in every game."

Naturally, there is also a lot of excitement ahead of the next Olympics - to be held in Paris in 2024 - but Gobert warns that they cannot look too far ahead. France will continue this summer their pursuit to qualify for the next World Cup, in 2023, before turning their attention to EuroBasket.

Gobert wants to win it all and that can start with Europe's flagship event in September as the continent's best converge on the big stage.

"Everyone talks about the Paris Olympics, but there are two very important tournaments before 2024. We have to focus first on EuroBasket.

"We have to take it one step at a time, and keep growing, keep getting better. Winning is our goal, and we want to make the best of those three coming tournaments, that is for sure.

"That would be perfect, to start that three-year cycle with a gold medal - that sounds like great to me."

FIBA