Saint-Quentin in the Aisne is hosting the Olympic preselection tournament for the 2024 Paris Games from February 3 to 5. The winners will win their ticket for the European Games in Krakow this summer, where the first quotas will be distributed. Mehdi Nichane, the national technical director, draws up the Olympic roadmap of the Blues.
Mehdi Nichane, how did the idea for this Olympic pre-selection tournament come about?
Mehdi Nichane : This is an unprecedented competition. We have set up an organization to bring together all the athletes with the best potential to qualify for the Games and then perform there. The complexity of selecting athletes was that since 2016 pros have been allowed to compete in the Olympics. We had to take into account the possibility for the pros to work with us, but we had to evaluate them. No competition, apart from the Games, brings together amateurs and professionals. We made the choice to open the pre-selection tournament to certain pro boxers meeting the criteria. We did not take into account the performances among the pros but their results among the amateurs, especially on the international scene.
What will be the format of this pre-selection tournament?
MN : We preferred a tournament on the “Round Robin” mode where all the fighters compete rather than a formula with direct elimination. This mixing will allow us to make our choice in relation to the best profiles.
“The champion of France was retained automatically”
Aren’t you frustrated that some categories didn’t fill up?
MN : Only eligible people were selected, that is to say who fulfilled all the criteria. The 2022/2023 French champion in each Olympic category was automatically selected for this internal tournament. This implied that the boxer starting in the first round of his departmental championship in October was likely, if he went up the whole table and became champion of France, to participate in this preselection tournament. We opened up to the widest possible for amateurs. Then there were three spots left to fill. You had to meet certain criteria such as having been a high-level athlete, a finalist in the French amateur championships and, above all, having participated in international reference competitions. If there was competition, we took into account the winners.
The French boxers competing in the 2024 Paris Games will therefore have to pass through Saint-Quentin…
MN : Mostly, yes. The route established concerns the first qualifying event, in this case the European Games in Krakow (Poland). Then, there will be two world qualifying tournaments organized over the first four to five months of 2024. We do not yet have the dates and places. I don’t want to close the door completely, especially in case of injury. For someone to come forward in the next six months and slip through the cracks seems complicated to me. On the other hand, in the under 57 kilos, I have two interesting profiles including our number one, Samuel Kistohurry, third in the last world championships. He was at the Tokyo Games in 2021 but unfortunately lost, narrowly, in the 1st round. He was injured during his victorious semi-final at the French championships. As this required an operation, he cannot take part in the internal tournament. The criteria are rigorous. The person who does not take part in the internal tournament and is not number one will not travel to Krakow.
“Whoever gets the quota (at the European Games) will qualify for the 2024 Games”
What will be the fate of the winners of this internal tournament?
MN : At 99.9%, they will participate in the European Games. That’s how we sell it, but then people have to follow the program established by the national coaches. If a professional boxer finishes first but wishes to continue boxing as a pro and not participate in such and such an action, it will not work. We are also not immune to injury or suspension. In terms of anti-doping monitoring, if there are three no-shows there will be a sanction, like what happened to Tony Yoka a few years ago. These small scenarios mean that we are not 100% sure.
What result will you need to obtain at the European Games to validate your ticket for Paris 2024?
MN : There will be 22 nominative quotas issued for women and as many for men in Krakow, knowing that there are six weight categories for women and seven for men. Depending on the categories, there will be between two and four quotas allocated. The person who wins the quota will be qualified for the 2024 Games. Then, the two world tournaments will provide fallback solutions to qualify.
Is this mode of qualification clearer than in the past?
MN : The IOC (International Olympic Committee), like what had happened for the Tokyo Games, regained control of the qualification process to the detriment of the International Federation, following political differences. From now on, it is clear and there is only one mode of possible selection. In 2012, there was the possibility of qualifying through the semi-professional boxing route and then through the amateur route. In 2016, you could qualify via semi-pro boxing, pro boxing and the amateur system… For 2021, it was exclusively via the amateur route. There were no dedicated pro tournaments. They had to mingle with amateurs. The constraint was the Covid and having a single qualifying tournament for all continents.
“Saint-Quentin will draw the hierarchy in each category”
What is the proportion of athletes competing at the Tokyo Games who try their luck for Paris 2024?
MN : There are no women. Maïva Hamadouche, a time returned to the amateurs, decided not to position herself on this tournament. This necessarily mortgages his chances. Of the four men in Tokyo, two have positioned themselves: Sofiane Oumiha and Billal Bennama. They have also both performed after Tokyo on the European or world championships. The third was Samuel Kistohurry but he has been injured since mid-December.
A year and a half before Paris 2024, what do you think would be a successful Games for the French team?
MN : The ideal would be four medals with two titles. This is the objective set internally but we will see more clearly at the end of the Saint-Quentin tournament which will have drawn the hierarchy in each category. We are heading into the unknown with profiles that have been out of the amateur system for a long time. Will they have the ability to reproduce their performances before? Some have started a professional career for some time like Estelle Mossely, Souleymane Cissokho or Mathieu Bauderlique. They have all been Olympic medalists but have gone or returned to the pros since 2016. In the meantime, water has flowed under the bridges, boxing has evolved and the competition is different. We will have to see if they manage to stand out from the national competition and above all, how they will respond to international competition. We will quickly get to the heart of the matter. The women’s world championships take place in March in India and for men, it is in May in Uzbekistan. Before the European Games, our sporting objective for the year, these Worlds will allow us to position ourselves against international competition.
Interview by Stéphane Magnoux
