Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos and Marine Boyer dazzle at the Paris World Challenge Cup

Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, supported by Banque BCP, and Marine Boyer, supported by Crédit Coopératif, achieved dazzling performances at the international competition staged in Bercy, Paris, on September 16 and 17.

A foretaste of Paris 2024… 

In less than one year, this very same venue – the Bercy Arena – will be hosting the gymnastics events of the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024. The tiers of the Bercy stadium were packed this weekend as the gymnasts competed in an electric atmosphere in what resembled a veritable dress rehearsal for the events to be staged next year, offering a foretaste of some of the thrills to come. As such, each result acquired special significance, full of future promise. The public, electrified by the different events, was happy to share the intense emotion and joy of Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos, supported by Banque BCP, and Marine Boyer, supported by Crédit Coopératif, at the end of the competition. Both gymnasts could easily imagine what the atmosphere would be like next summer! 

Renewed confidence 

Mélanie De Jesus Dos Santos won the uneven bars event, beating the reigning world champion no less! She also won the floor event. It was like a fresh start for the gymnast from Martinique with four European titles to her name. We remember Mélanie’s profound disappointment on her return from Tokyo, to the point of her questioning her very future as a gymnast. She subsequently decided to move to the United States to train in Houston alongside the gymnastics legend Simone Biles: a new start to give fresh impetus to her career. 

As for Marine Boyer, she won thanks to her outstanding performance on the balance beam. For her, too, this victory represented a source of immense satisfaction, especially as it was her last French International championships. Marine had already won gold in last year’s Paris World Challenge Cup and subsequently finished 4^th on the balance beam in the World Championships. This was where she came in Rio, just behind… Simone Biles. In a few days’ time, the gymnast from Reunion Island will be hoping to build on this momentum at the World Championships to be held in Antwerp from September 30 to October 8 this year, a competition enabling participants to qualify for the Olympic & Paralympic Games Paris 2024.  

Thanks to these fine results, the French national women’s gymnastics team, with Marine and Mélanie in particular, comes away from this World Challenge Cup competition in high spirits, with their confidence renewed before the next crucial event in Belgium.