Barring an unlikely turnaround, Denis Gargaud, 2016 Olympic champion in canoe slalom in Rio, will not participate in the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. "I'm not disappointed, I'm not angry, I just don't understand this decision," he told AFP after being deprived of a France team in 2023 on Wednesday by his canoe-kayak federation.

"It's a mistake for French sport to get away from the Olympic road so early. I could have put pressure on the other members of the France" team until the 2024 Olympics," continued the 35-year-old canoe world champion in 2011 and European champion in 2021.

"I am unavoidable"

The FFCK unveiled the composition of the France 2023 team, including eleven names, including three in men's canoe (Lucas Roisin, Nicolas Gestin and Jules Bernardet) at the end of "the national identification time organized in Vaires-sur-Marne last week, the final step in the selection process of the France team," she explained beforehand in her statement.

Gargaud did not, by his own admission, approach these selections "in the best conditions" because of tendinitis in a shoulder. "If I were a coach, I would not have selected myself first in terms of my times, but I would have selected myself second or third (position) in terms of my past and present record. I'm 4th in the world, it's been more than ten years since I left the top level in the world," he insisted. "I am unavoidable," hammered the Marseillais.

The list of the #slalom 🛶 #EquipedeFrance 🇫🇷 has just been unveiled!

These are the athletes who will represent the France 🇫🇷 in the first international competitions of the season! pic.twitter.com/9bciklEjDT

— FFCK (@FF_CanoeKayak) May 3, 2023

Access to this content has been blocked in order to respect your choice of consent

By clicking on "I ACCEPT", you accept the deposit of cookies by external services and will thus have access to the content of our partners

I AGREE

And to better pay 20 Minutes, do not hesitate to accept all cookies, even for one day only, via our button "I accept for today" in the banner below.

More information on the Cookie Policy page.


Gargaud had already been deprived of the Tokyo Olympics in 2021, ousted at the end of the last competition in a traditionally ruthless selection process with only one boat per country per event.

"We are in a very dense category, with five-six boats for only three places," said Rémi Gaspard, performance director of the FFCK. It's understandable that Denis doesn't understand the decision, but it's an assumed choice. We took into account a lot of data and elements, including the ability to perform in large events. »

our file Paris 2024 Olympics

The eleven selected are expected to field up at the European Games in Krakow, Poland (21 June-2 July), and at the 2023 World Championships in Lee Valley, Great Britain (19-24 September). At the end of the 2023 Worlds and the World Cup final on the site of the 2024 Olympic Games in Vaires-sur-Marne (5-8 October), this selection will be reduced to one name per discipline.

  • Paris 2024 Olympics
  • Sport
  • Canoe
  • Slalom