PARIS, July 27 (Xinhua) -- Superstar Antoine Dupont inspired France to gold against defending champions Fiji in the men's rugby sevens, as the host nation secured their first gold medal of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games here on Saturday.
Winning 28-7, France, driven by the genius of Dupont and a thunderous home support, carved their names into the history books.
The atmosphere inside the Stade de France reached new heights, as the collective voices of more than 60,000 French supporters singing La Marseillaise shook the stadium.
With French President Emmanuel Macron and Fijian President Wiliame Katonivere in attendance, alongside other French luminaries such as footballer Antoine Griezmann, the occasion felt even more special.
Despite the crowd, it was Fiji, the tournament's standout team, that opened the scoring. The Fijian attack, so sharp all tournament, cut through the French backline with ease to send Joseva Talacolo over. However, spurred by the deafening rendition of "Allez Les Bleus", France hit back as Jefferson-Lee Joseph carved through the middle to bring the scores level before the half.
The second half started with the introduction of Dupont, and he turned the game immediately from the kickoff. Using his incredible footwork, the diminutive star fashioned space out of nothing before using his turn of pace to blister down the wing before overloading to Aaron Grandidier Nkanang to put France ahead.
Despite Fiji's attempts to gain a foothold, a series of unforced errors allowed France to control the middle portion of the half. In possession and under the spell of Dupont, France came alive. The superstar marshalled his troops, sending waves of French runners forward into the Fijian ranks.
Under the pressure, Fiji folded, giving away a series of penalties on their own try line. It was the main man again, Dupont, who took the responsibility to tap and go, putting the game out of Fiji's reach. The clock ticked down, and with a final rolling maul from the lineout five meters out, France scored a fourth and final try.
As the French maul crossed the line, the stadium exploded with delirium at France's first gold of the Games and the country's first-ever rugby sevens Olympic title.
In the bronze medal match, South Africa came out on top against Australia with a gripping 26-19 victory. Strong Australian defense put South Africa under pressure in their own half, who despite possession, struggled to break the Australia line. The pressure paid off when Australia turned over possession before Nathan Lawson was able to streak down the wing to put Australia ahead.
Australia's defensive tenacity continued towards the end of the first half, but captain Selvyn Davids put the Blitz Boks back into contention with a magical piece of individual skill. Australia's hopes faded in a single play midway through the second half. South Africa put together a nice piece of interplay to score in the corner, and in the build-up, Australia's Nick Malouf was sent off for a high tackle.
A man down, Australia immediately conceded, and the floodgates looked like they were about to open. Yet, Corey Toole had other plans. An individual bit of brilliance, almost matching Davids' earlier try, sparked an Australian comeback. A minute later, Henry Paterson scored in the final minute to level the scores.
However, the unlikely comeback was squashed as Davids exploited the space out wide to put Shaun Williams in under the post in overtime, securing South Africa the bronze.
Earlier in the day, France had defeated future bronze medalists South Africa to claim a place in the final. With the previous win against Argentina in the quarterfinals still fresh in the minds of the spectators, France were once again greeted with a thunderous reception, with expectations for gold increasing with each victory.
A nervous opening from both teams with plenty of handling errors due to the wet ball and constant rain saw the first half end scoreless. South Africa opened the scoring in the third minute of the second half. France immediately hit back through Rayan Rebbadj after a line break by Varian Pasquet. Pasquet broke the line again a minute later only to be held up over the line. However, with South Africa offside from the resulting scrum, talisman Dupont was on hand to tap and go before offloading to Rebbadj to score his second try.
With the hooter sounding for full time, Jordan Sepho put the icing on the cake with a final try in the corner to give France the 19-5 win and put them into the gold medal match.
In the other semifinal, Fiji had easily defeated Australia. As in the France-South Africa game, both teams struggled to find a foothold in the match with a series of handling errors killing the momentum. Australia took the lead after Fiji were careless with possession from a ruck. With the clock ticking over to zero, Joji Nasova beat two men to run in a 95-meter try to put Fiji back on level terms.
The momentum began to swing the way of Fiji after Baleiwairiki finished off a fine team try in the first minute of the second half. Two minutes later, Kaminieli Rasaku raced under the posts to extend Fiji's lead. A minute and one penalty kick later, Selesitino Ravutaumada scored from the restart, putting Fiji in the final after a convincing 31-7 win. ■