Aaron Grandidier greeted fans after winning gold in Paris on Day 1 (Reuters)
France got off to a flying start on Day 1 of the Olympics in Paris with four medals.
Shirine Boukli won bronze in the women’s under-48kg judo to give France their first medal of Paris 2024 on Saturday.
And that was followed up by two silver medals for Luka Mkheidze in the men’s 60kg judo, and Auriane Mallo in the women’s fencing.
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But France’s men’s rugby sevens team picked up the first gold medal for the Olympic hosts with an impressive 28-7 win over Fiji in the final.
Antoine Dupont delivered a talismanic performance at scrum-half, while British-born Aaron Grandidier was on the scoresheet for the hosts at the Stade de France.
Team GB ended Day 1 without a gold medal and Grandidier was the only British athlete on the top of the podium.
Grandidier, who was born in Bromley, learned to play rugby at the age of 11 in Orpington and ended up representing Kent at county Under-18 level.
The 24-year-old also played for St Mary’s University in Twickenham but continued to be overlooked by professional rugby clubs in England.
He then opted to explore the possibility of playing in France and after impressing for England’s 7s development team he signed for Brive’s academy.
It was with Brive where Grandidier, whose mother was born in France, caught the attention of the French national team.
‘The France 7s team got word that I’d come over and remembered me from playing against them for England and decided to test me out in December 2019 in their development side,’ Grandidier said in an interview with The Rugby Paper.
‘It went well and I played with them in South Africa in February 2020.’
Grandidier signed for professional French Top 14 side Pau earlier this year and now has an Olympic gold medal on his CV.
‘I found out France had a system that allowed you a bit more time to break out on to the scene, so I was like, ‘you know what, screw it, I’ve got nothing to lose, this is what I want to do’,’ he told BBC Sport.
‘So I decided to chase it and pursue that dream.’
