Gilles Erb is a happy president. Since the crazy Olympic summer, French table tennis has not recovered from its little cloud. “We are experiencing an extraordinary start to the school year, there is phenomenal enthusiasm around our sport,” enthuses the boss of the French Federation (FFTT), at the dawn of a European Championship of which Félix Lebrun is the natural favorite .
The little prince of Montpellier, bronze medalist individually and with friends from the French team in Paris, is the number 1 seed in the main draw which opens this Thursday in Linz (Austria). A great opportunity to keep the momentum going, and to place ping for good in the landscape of sports that matter.
This post-Olympic Games is an opportunity not to be missed. The results are there, as is the media attention, driven by the unusual story of these two talented and endearing brothers. In their wake, we rediscovered the resilience of Simon Gauzy, made a date with Flavien Coton (16 years old, first French U15 world champion) and paid attention to a women’s team in the making. All this trickles down to the base, with the number of licensees exploding: + 20% this fall compared to last year, which was already a record vintage, to bring the number of Lebrun disciples to nearly 270,000.
The beginning of a “virtuous circle”, in the words of Gilles Erb, which must be cherished and further developed. The president of the FFTT is well aware of this. “It’s a satisfaction, already, because it doesn’t come from nowhere but from real work to develop the Federation. We were able to create the conditions for our champions to emerge, he appreciates. Today we have a very important opportunity for our sport to grow and accelerate our growth. We have the responsibility to convert this hype into licensees and additional partners so that tomorrow we will have even more resources and results. »
An anticipated craze, but…
Not everything is simple, of course, in supporting this growth. The influx of practitioners requires space, equipment, tables and supervisors. Not all clubs have the means to afford it, which is why the Federation has put together a reception plan to help as much as possible. Clubs can find training methods suitable for large groups. Some, selected by the 650 applications submitted for this school year, were also able to benefit from a financial boost.
“We anticipated this enthusiasm, because requests had already started to pour in last year. But we can never really prepare for such a big wave, notes Gilles Erb. We don’t build a gymnasium and train supervisors in two steps. » The institution is keen to carefully prepare the generations to come, which was lacking at the end of the era of the “Mousquetaires” (Gatien, Chila, Eloi, Legoût).
“Important to maintain the level of media attention”
All this will happen gradually. In the meantime, major events are being organized to place France among the strongholds of world table tennis. At the end of October, the world championships for people suffering from Parkinson’s disease will take place in Maizières-lès-Metz (studies have shown the benefits of the practice for people suffering from this syndrome), and the WTT Champions, a benchmark competition. which brings together the 32 best table tennis players on the planet, boys and girls, in Montpellier.
This is the first time that France has hosted this event, and it is no coincidence. “We thought it was very important to maintain the level of media attention through a world-renowned event,” explains the president of the FFTT. We have signed for three editions, 2024, 2025, 2026. This bodes very well for the development of our sport. »
Until then, Gilles Eerb and his teams are hoping for big news from Linz. Several medals are hoped for, for boys, girls and doubles. The general public will be able to follow all of this closely, since all of the Blues’ matches in this Euro will be broadcast unencrypted on the L’Equipe Channel, until Sunday. After a first successful experience during the French championships last March, the channel 21 could not miss it.
The Channel L’Equipe on the spot
“We saw the craze for the Lebruns straight away, and that’s why we rushed to these European Championships,” explains Maël Seror, deputy editor in chief in charge of Olympic sports. . We want to follow their progress, we would dream of them winning a competition on our channel. » More generally, the group intends to pursue a long-term approach with this sport, modeled on what it did with biathlon. “There are two points in common: first, French people who walk, and that is really a very important factor for us. People who watch free-to-air TV are very attached to French performances, explains the manager. And then there is the simplicity of the rules, this accessible side. »
Without spoiling anything, a much more production light. “Biathlon has 47 cameras, some of which are behind trees where it captures very poorly,” he continues. There, with five or six cameras, we can already see the ball very well, have cameras for slow motion, observe the protagonists in different shot values, see sweat, emotion. »
In addition to the matches, over which the great voice of French table tennis, Jean-Philippe Gatien, will officiate, the Channel L’Equipe will offer on-set broadcasts and insides with (especially but not only) Félix and Alexis. Reluctant at first in order to protect its headliners, the Federation ended up accepting. “We discussed with them saying that we wanted to put them forward,” continues Maël Seror. We want the Games not to be a one-shotand start the long road to the next Olympiad now. »
“It’s true that we have extraordinary luck with these beautiful ambassadors,” agrees Gilles Erb. They are reputation accelerators for us. They not only have a story to tell, but also charisma, talent, they are loved by the media and the general public. They help us very concretely by their availability to respond to requests and give us visibility. They want to grow their sport, you can feel it. » And it’s not him who will complain about it.