France celebrates Antoine Dupont after rugby redemption

In 2024, Dupont gambled on his career with a risky move.

After captaining his nation to a heartbreaking quarter-final loss to South Africa in the 2023 Rugby World Cup on home soil, the 2021 World Rugby Men’s 15s Player of the Year decided to skip the Six Nations in order to concentrate on sevens and prepare for the Olympic Games. It was a decision that was met with mixed reactions at home.

With the benefit of hindsight, there is now no doubt as to whether he made the correct call.

Having failed to even qualify for men’s sevens at Tokyo 2020, France are the Olympic gold medallists just three years later – and few would argue against Dupont’s influence on this squad.

The 27 year-old, dubbed by many as Paris’ posterboy of 2024, was pivotal in both of their tournament victories leading up to the Games.

Then the Dupont story came full circle, as France defeated their old foes South Africa in the semi-finals of the Olympics.

His final act was to come off the bench to inspire an emphatic win against reigning champions Fiji in the final, and complete his rugby redemption.