The day Antoine Dupont etched his name in Olympic folklore

Friday, July 26 2024, was the day that the cauldron was lit to mark the start of the Paris Olympics, but it was 24 hours later that the games were truly set alight, courtesy of Antoine Dupont and co.

In front of a frenzied capacity crowd at the Stade de France, France’s men’s Olympic sevens team brought home the nation’s first gold of the games.

But it was not clean sailing for the hosts in the final, nor was it throughout the tournament.

In the opening two days of the men’s competition before the opening ceremony, France just did enough to book their place in the semi-finals on the first Saturday of the games. It wasn’t pretty, but the only thing that mattered was that they were still in contention for gold after the games had officially begun.

A golden moment for France! 🇫🇷

An outstanding performance to grab their first gold medal at #Paris2024 and their first-ever gold medal in rugby sevens! 🏉@franceolympique | @worldrugby | #Rugbysevens#Paris2024 | #Samsung | #TogetherforTomorrow pic.twitter.com/a61C12Thn3

— The Olympic Games (@Olympics) July 27, 2024

On their way to the Saturday, they drew to the USA and lost to reigning champions Fiji in the group stages, but did enough to make the quarter-finals against HSBC SVNS league winners Argentina.

Things started to click into gear for France come the end of day two of the tournament, as they saw off Argentina in the quarter-finals with surprising ease, leaving a frisson of excitement in the stadium, and indeed the whole of France, ahead of the semi-finals two days later.

But it looked as though France’s gold medal dream was vanishing in their semi-final against South Africa, in a match befitting their campaign. With the Blitzbokke leading 5-0 with three minutes remaining, France needed something heroic. Three quickfire tries later, they had booked their place in the final against a Fiji side that were not only unbeaten in the tournament to that point, having already beaten France, but had never even lost a match at the Olympics, collecting gold medals in 2016 and 2020.

It was a daunting challenge that awaited France in the main event, but with a febrile home crowd willing their side on in the sweltering Parisian heat, there was a sense that it was their night. Dupont seemed destined to etch his name into Olympic folklore.

Bizarrely, the French maestro actually started the final on the bench, as his side got off to a less-than-ideal start, with Fiji scoring within the first 90 seconds. France clawed their way back to 7-7 at half-time, ready for head coach Jérôme Daret to unleash Dupont for the second half, with the gold medal tantalisingly close.

Having arguably the greatest player to ever grace a rugby field waiting on your bench is not far short of a track cyclist having a Ducati Superleggera V4 in reserve if ever they started trailing in the omnium. And when Dupont was needed most, he delivered.

Within seconds of Fiji’s kick-off for the second half, Dupont was scorching his way down the left flank, popping the ball inside to Aaron Grandidier-Nkanang within metres from the line. That was only the start of a masterclass that eternised the Toulouse scrum-half as one of the superstars of the game.

With 90 seconds remaining, Dupont darted over the line from a quick tap from five metres to extend the score to 21-7. The team knew it, the crowd knew it – France’s first gold medal of the games was imminent. His second try of the final at the death tipped an already pandemonic crowd into overdrive, and signalled the unofficial start to a party across France over the next six weeks in the Olympic and Paralympic games.

France’s final in many ways embodied their 2024 as a whole – Dupont was not always there, but when he did play (LA SVNS, SVNS Grand Final and the Olympics), success was sure to follow as the 28-year-old was crowned World Rugby men’s sevens player of the year a few months later.

The Olympics brought an end to Dupont’s dalliance in sevens – a step into the unknown and one he even admitted he was a “little bit scared” about as he put his international 15s career on hold during the Guinness Six Nations. Few would deny it was a decision that paid off.

France would go on to claim 15 more medals, creating many magical moments, but it was all kick-started by Dupont and his team-mates.