France leaves Olympics with 11 golds

FRANCE will take some consolation from its handball team, les experts, defending its Olympic title and winning one of the last gold medals of the London 2012 games.

The president of the French Olympic and sports committee, Denis Masseglia, said that overall there was satisfaction with the country's performance, and he praised the atmosphere in the stadiums, the organisation of the games and he was proud of the French athletes.

Overall the French team came away with 34 medals, 11 of which were gold, this final total is lower than the 2008 Olympics in China, but the number of gold winners was an improvement on the seven won in Beijing.

Some of the highlights of the French team were the swimming medals gained in the pool, expect to see more of the talented trio of Yannick Agnel, Camille Muffat and Florent Manaudou both in and out the water.

Maybe more was expected in the athletics stadium, the only gold came in the high jump as Renaud Lavillenie set a new Olympic record, while the once all conquering fencing team failed to come away with a medal of any colour.

Many of the French team will have had the chance to test out the Olympic venues before competition started so maybe a few are disappointed with their final standings.

What has turned out to be one of the best organised, most competitive and welcoming Olympics ever may have one lasting imprint upon French sport.

Could we see a cheeky bid by Paris and François Hollande to stage the games in 2024? The French president lapped up the atmosphere when he visited London 2012, so he may want to capture some of that spirit for France.

Past French presidents have been keen to leave a legacy to the country, think of the Pompidou Centre, so the appeal of pulling off such a sporting achievement may see the Hollande government stretch every sinew to capture a golden future.