The French federation carried out its threat. Champion of France with the female ASVEL on May 20, Marine Johannes, who also won the Eurocup with the Rhone club, responded favorably to requests from the WNBA and New York Liberty, where she plays alongside Jonquel Jones, Sabrina Ionescu and Breanna Stewart. As a result, the full-back did not take part in the next EuroBasket which will take place from June 15-25, a decision that caused a lot of talk.
After entering the competition on the other side of the Atlantic with a first success against Chicago Sky, Marine Johannès spoke for the first time on this affair, reacting in particular to the sentence of coach Jean-Aimé Toupane, for whom the French team had not deprived Marine Johannès of Euro, implying that she excluded herself from the competition by her choice to shorten her preparation time with the Blue.
A conflict set to recur in the future
“No, I don’t feel the same”, she replied to RMC Sport. “In my opinion, I am deprived of the France team. I don’t think I was excessive in my request and all the support I received proves it. Since February, New York has always been open to discussion. Sandy Brondello, the coach, knows how important the French team is to me. I remain convinced that a solution could have been found and that it was possible to do both. We must not forget that being European in this league is not easy. You have to show every day that you have your place and that you deserve to be there, so when you have the chance to be able to experience that, it’s difficult to take any risk of losing your place”.
The rear also expressed her disappointment with the decision of the FFBB, while her attachment to the Blue is no longer to be proven and she has not missed any international competition since she is playing pro. His fault was simply to respond to a new challenge, that of succeeding in imposing himself in the WNBA.
“For me it is clear that I did not make a choice, it is the federation which chooses not to select me. I could be there on June 1, I’ve been in the France team since 2016, I’ve never missed anything since I’ve been there. Everyone knows that the national team is important to me. Even being injured for the World Cup in Australia, I asked to stay with the team because I wanted to be part of the group and I had the Euros and the Olympics in mind. Moreover, during this period, I discussed a lot with Aimé and the staff. I just wanted to work with them. I find it a shame not to be able to be selected because I was going to miss a small part of the preparation. I don’t like to think that being in the final with Lyon and having the chance to be in the WNBA would have ultimately penalized me.
Punished by the Olympics?
The worst may be yet to come for Marine Johannès since the French federation could do without her services during the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris, since any player absent from Euro 2023, without a reason deemed valid by the federation, would become ineligible. for the Olympics. For the moment, the interested party does not want to believe it…
“I try not to think about it. For the moment, if we follow the new rules, since I am absent from the European championship, I am not eligible for the Olympic Games either, but I obviously hope that the federation will come back to this. It is important that we find solutions to change things. Of course the national team is very important, the blue white red jersey is an honor to wear it, but you have to take into account that the WNBA is attracting more and more new generations. I think that in the future, there will be other French players in my situation”.
