French Olympic winners receive Legion of Honour distinctions
20 Sep. 2021
After winning the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020 men’s and women’s handball tournaments, the 30 players representing the France men’s and women’s teams at the Games were awarded the National Order of the Legion of Honour by French President Emmanuel Macron during a ceremony at the Palais de l’Élysée in Paris last week.
The Legion of Honour is the highest French order of merit, both military and civil, divided into five degrees of increasing distinction: Chevalier (Knight), Officier (Officer), Commandeur (Commander), Grand officier (Grand Officer), and Grand-croix (Grand Cross). Two of the players who were already named Chevaliers, Luc Abalo and Michael Guigou, were promoted to the rank of Officier.
“Handball, very clearly, is a sport that France is doing great at. This is clear and that must continue,” said Macron during the ceremony.
Guigou, who has played 307 games and scored 1,021 goals, was already a Chevalier of the Legion of Honour, since he won the gold medal at the Olympic Games Beijing 2008, just like Abalo. The 39-year-old left wing is one of the most decorated players ever in the history of handball, winning three gold medals and one silver medal at the Olympic Games, four gold medals and two bronze medals at the IHF Men’s World Championship and three gold medals and two bronze medals at the EHF EURO.
“It is always special to go to the Élysée Palace, it is an exceptional moment. When you are invited here, it is because you really did something great for your country. It is an honour each time and it values even more the title we just won,” said Guigou.
Abalo, who is 37, has also been appointed to the Legion of Honour since 2008, and has joined Guigou as one of the all-time greats, mirroring his teammate’s medal table, with the exception of a gold medal at the IHF Men’s World Championship.
In total, more than 150 Tokyo 2020 medallists from the Olympic and Paralympic Games were awarded the Legion of Honour distinction. Despite that result, French president Emmanuel Macron raised the bar and challenged the athletes to come up with even better results in three years’ time, when the Olympic and Paralympic Games will take place in Paris.
In the women’s team, whose domestic-based players were present at the ceremony, all of the players have been named Chevalier, including veterans like Alisson Pineau, Alexandra Lacrabère and Amandine Leynaud, who have been playing for the national teams for nearly 20 years.
“It is an immense honour and immense pride to be here, at the Élysée, for our Olympic gold medal. I am emotional, because it is the first time here. To be thanked and congratulated by the President of the Republic himself is perhaps something that I will not relive. It is a moment that will remain engraved in my memory. I invited my mother and my father and I think that for them too, it is a pride,” said Coralie Lassource, the France women’s national team captain, to the official website of the French Handball Federation.
Photo: ©FFHandball