From the ashes of disaster, the rebuilding of a legacy can often take winding turns, and in the case of French Rugby star Antoine Dupont, this is certainly the case. Travelling a winding road since his team’s heart-breaking Rugby World Cup quarterfinal loss to the Springboks at the Stade de France on October 15th, 2023, the generationally talented Toulouse star has finally come full circle.
Far from the dejected figure who trudged off the pitch that cold October evening, Dupont and his French Rugby Sevens colleagues got the 2024 Olympic host nation’s campaign off to the perfect start with a gold medal. This victory, whilst it is not a like-for-like comparison to last year’s Rugby World Cup disappointment, remains a significant achievement in the career of arguably the game’s greatest-ever talent.
Making this victory even more special was the fact that Dupont almost single-handedly took apart the sevens rugby royalty in a Fijian team that had never lost a match at the Olympics. Securing the previous two Olympic Gold Medals, the Fijians entered the final as hot favourites to complete a hat trick.
As the half-time siren sounded with the scores locked at seven a piece, few would’ve betted against the reigning champs doing as they had on fifteen previous occasions and kicking it up a gear.
Instead, it was Dupont who entered the fray as a ‘super sub’ that stole the show in front of his adoring fans.
In his first impactful moment, he ripped off an eighty-metre run before popping the perfect offload to the supporting Aaron Grandidier. As Les Bleus hit the front for the first time in the contest, Dupont now had the bit firmly between his teeth.
Thus, it was fitting that he would be the one to put the exclamation mark on a famous day for French Rugby with two tries, including one as time expired to seal the deal.
Une famille en or 🥇
Merci à l’équipe d’avoir accueilli le rookie, merci à TOUS pour le soutien incroyable ! Allez l’équipe de France 💙🤍❤️ pic.twitter.com/qZyyOCZ8W4— 𝗔𝗻𝘁𝗼𝗶𝗻𝗲 𝗗𝗨𝗣𝗢𝗡𝗧 (@Dupont9A) July 27, 2024
As Paris and the rest of France, for that matter, erupted into pure, unadulterated joy, one can only imagine the weight that was lifted off the man who has carried the hopes of a nation since he burst onto the international scene in 2017.
Whilst his trophy cabinet is already stacked to the brim with impressive silverware for both club and country, winning a global showpiece event is different gravy from European titles.
Perhaps the most underrated part of Dupont’s achievement is the risk he took in putting himself front and centre as the host nation’s poster boy. Many players would have been deterred from taking themselves out of their comfort zone in the pursuit of glory, given the very real risk of failure. Instead, Dupont is now an Olympic Gold medallist. In the same year, he secured both the Investec Champions Cup and Top 14 titles with his club Toulouse.
Remarkably still four months off his 28th birthday, Dupont has cemented himself as an all-time great who will likely go down as the greatest to ever lace up a pair of rugby boots when it is all said and done.
Sign In