Incomplete Olympic faction - French awarded fairplay and broadcasting excellence gold medals

There have been more gold medals to add to the French haul at the London 2012 Olympics after the  Independent Olympics Observers Committee awarded the country three special awards for fairplay, sportsmanship and broadcasting excellence.

The awards were handed out on Sunday evening at a special gala dinner in the presence of the guest of honour Sir James Paul McCartney, MBE, Hon RAM, FRCM who opened and closed the proceedings with yet another inevitable rendition of "Hey Jude".

Nelson Monfort (screenshot YouTube video)

In the category Best Reporter, the gold went to France 2's omnipresent Nelson Monfort for his excellent interview of the French women's 4 x 200 metres relay swimming team after they had won the bronze medal.

"Delicacy and tact were the trademarks of yet another fine moment in television sports journalism," the Committee noted, praising Monfort for the way in which he had managed to make one of the team, Ophélie-Cyrielle Etienne, feel completely at ease by reminding her that her mother had died recently.

Monfort, renowned for his one-note intonation and simultaneous translations skills when interviewing English-speaking athletes showed particular empathy when it came to questioning Etienne.

"We love your sensitivity," Monfort said. "You have suffered over the past year after a family bereavement. I imagine that's who you would like to dedicate this medal to tonight?"



Monford wasn't the only winner representing France Télévisions on the night though.

The whole organisation was honoured with a gold for the way in which it has so far provided balanced and objective coverage of the London Olympics, regularly interrupting events to inform viewers and commentators that the remainder of a match, bout, heat or whatever would now be continued on one of its other channels - either France 2 or France 3, depending on the schedules.

"Channel hopping has brought a delight and pleasure to millions of viewers in France," the Committee said.

"And it has ensured that no crucial moments have been missed while those at home have scrambled to find the remote control to avoid the closing credits on one channel before being treated to the opening ones on another."

Special mention was made for the way in which the men's doubles final - which featured the French pair of Michael Llodra, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga losing to the American twins Mike and Bob Bryan was shown to the exclusion of the women's singles being played at the same time.

While the odd mention was made of the manner in which Serena Williams was hammering Maria Sharapova in straight sets, the only glimpse of the game French viewers were treated to was that of Williams receiving her medal.

But the night's top award for Best Loser went to French rowers Jérémie Azou and Stany Delayre.

They were competing in the final of the men's lightweight double skulls and had reportedly made an excellent start to the race when it was brought to a halt suddenly because the British duo of Mark Hunter and Zac Purchase had problems with their boat.

Purchase's seat had slipped and as is traditional and part of the rules of rowing, he raised his hand and all the other teams stopped too.

After the restart the British went on to finish second, just behind the Danish pair of Mads Rasmussen and Rasmus Quist, while the French missed out on the podium finishing fourth behind the bronze medallists Storm Uru and Peter Taylor from New Zealand.

And it was then that the French showed their true sporting colours and sense of fair play, blaming the incident on the failure of the British team for "misaligning their boat initially because of the wind" and criticising the jury's decision "for abiding by the rules and interrupting the race."

"The other teams were stronger when the race was restarted," explained Delayre

"It's always frustrating finishing fourth and is perhaps down to us being less experienced than the other teams in appearing in an Olympic final."

Which surely brings us to the time for a song, doesn't it?

Oh, go on then.

You just know you've been itching to hear it.

Mathieu Montcourt - death of a tennisman

His name probably isn't one that is on the lips of many a sports fans, but on Tuesday, French tennis player Mathieu Montcourt made the headlines for the saddest of reasons.

The body of the 24-year-old was found in front of his apartment in the Paris suburb of Boulogne-Billancourt in the early hours of the morning, and police are investigating the circumstances of his death.

Initial reports suggest that Montcourt died of a pulmonary embolism.

According to police the body of the 24-year-old was found in the early hours of Tuesday morning by his girlfriend on the staircase of the apartment block in which he lived.

An autopsy is due to be held on Wednesday to discover the exact causes of the player's early death.

Montcourt turned professional in 2002 and although his wasn't a glittering career on a par with his better-known French contemporaries such as Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Richard Gasquet, Gael Monfils or Gilles Simon for example, Montcourt was placed 119th in the world in the latest rankings released on Monday.

More regularly seen on the Challenge tour in Europe, his most recent appearance in a Grand Slam tournament was in the French Open at Roland Garros in June, where he made it through to the second round.

Perhaps part of the explanation for Montcourt's failure to progress more quickly in the rankings was that a cloud had been hanging over his career for several months.

In August last year he was fined and suspended for eight weeks by the ATP for betting on tennis matches back in 2005.

He took the case to appeal and in May this year the Lausanne-based Court of arbitration for sport reduced the suspension to six weeks.

Interviewed on national radio, Michael Llodra, fellow French tennis professional and a close friend of Montcourt on the professional circuit, expressed his shock.

'It's horrible, tragic," he said.

"I've been upset ever since I heard the news. To go like that at 24 years of age is terrible."

Muhammad Ali storms into the final

France is in the grips of tennis fever at the moment following the exploits of Jo-Wilfried Tsonga at the year’s first Grand Slam tournament in Australia.

The 22-year-old, who bears an uncanny physical resemblance to boxing legend Muhammad Ali, has knocked out his fair share of seeded players along the way.

It all started out just under two weeks ago, when he claimed his first scalp, the great hope of Britain, Andy Murray, in the first round. And since then there’s been no stopping the previously unsung hero of the court.

In the fourth round he beat French number one, and eighth seeded Richard Gasquet in a four-set tussle, and in the quarterfinals put on a sumptuous power display to dump 14th seed Mikhail Youzhny out of the tournament.

And then on Thursday, Tsonga overturned all the experts’ expectations by crushing the world’s number two, Rafal Nadal, in just over two hours to claim his place in Sunday’s final, where he’ll face third-ranked Novak Djokovic.

Although ranked just 38th going into the tournament, Tsonga’s arrival at the top level should not really come as that much of a surprise to aficionados of the game.

He’s part of the same generation of talented young French players such as Gael Monfils and sometimes doubles partner Richard Gasquet, and first came to prominence in 2003 when he won the US Open junior title and reached the semi-finals of three other junior Grand Slams.

Although he turned professional in 2004, a string of back and shoulder injuries threatened to put a halt to a promising career and kept him somewhat in the shadows of the better known Monfils and Gasquet. By the end of 2006 he had only competed in eight tournaments, ranking outside of the world’s top 200 and only earning a wildcard into last year’s draw Down Under.

The turnaround began last year, when he won four Challenger series titles – a sort of second tier for professionals who don’t quite make the grade with the big money-earners. He also beat Australia’s Lleyton Hewitt to reach the third round of the Queen’s tournament in London and followed it up by reaching the fourth round of Wimbledon.

Thursday’s win over Nadal was an awesome show of strength and precision, with Tsonga conceding just seven games as he took sweet revenge for his straight sets defeat by the Spaniard in the third round of last year’s US Open.

Commentators back home went ballistic as the Frenchmen thumped home a series of winners (49 to Nadal’s 13) and out-Aced the Spaniard 17-2.

Beaming from ear to ear the young Frenchman punched the air after his victory, earned a standing ovation from the packed 15,000-strong Rod Laver Arena and heaps of praise from a sporting Nadal.

Whatever the outcome of Sunday’s final, there’ll be a new name on the winner’s roll of honours. Tsonga’s father, the former Congo-Brazzaville international handball player, Didier, and his mother, Evelyne, - both teachers in the French town of Le Mans, will be making the trip Down Under to see their son take on Djokovic. The two men have never played each other before.

And the French public television channel, France 3, has cleared its morning schedules to broadcast the match live and capture what would be the first singles title for a Frenchman at the Australian Open since Jean Borotra in 1928.

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