France
2021
Two golds in March, one medal in August — carried out of Tokyo on a broken back. The season French athletics came closest to the void, in the last kit of the Asics era.
France won a single athletics medal at the Tokyo Games: Kevin Mayer's decathlon silver (8726), earned with an injured back — the one result that spared French athletics its first Olympic zero since Sydney 2000, in a summer that left it 31st among nations.
This is the season on a scale: the two-gold winter of Torun, the one-medal summer, the hammer fourth-and-fifth that got away, Diniz's last walk — and the final Asics France kit, one piece of which is in this archive.
Part of our Season Series — one year at a time. The full national story is in The History of Athletics in France. Jump to the 2021 kit or browse the collection.
- The Games
- Tokyo, athletics 30 Jul – 8 Aug 2021
- The medal
- One: Mayer's decathlon silver, 8726 — with an injured back
- The context
- It spared France a first Olympic zero since Sydney 2000; 31st among nations
- The winter lie
- Torun, March: 2 golds — Mayer 6392 (WL), Belocian 7.42 (EL)
- At the doors
- Tavernier 4th and Bigot 5th in the hammer
- The exit
- Diniz abandons at km 29 — his last race, and the last Olympic 50 km ever
- The record leaves
- Jacobs's 9.80 takes the European record Vicaut had shared since 2015
- Kit
- The last Asics season — adidas took over on 1 Jan 2022
The Scale That Tipped
The French 2021 has to be weighed, not narrated. In March, at the European Indoors in Torun, France won two golds — Mayer's world-leading 6392 in the heptathlon and Wilhem Belocian's European-leading 7.42 in the hurdles — plus silvers for Valentin Lavillenie and Alice Finot, finishing fifth in the medal table. The winter promised a harvest.
Tavernier (4th) and Bigot (5th) left the hammer at the doors; Diniz stopped at km 29 of his — and the event's — last Olympic 50 km. Sources: Eurosport; franceinfo; Wikipedia. Verified August 2026.
Winter vs summer (table)
| Season | Result |
|---|---|
| Torun, March | 2 golds (Mayer 6392 WL · Belocian 7.42 EL) + 2 silvers — 5th in the medal table |
| Tokyo, August | 1 medal — Mayer's decathlon silver (8726), with an injured back |
| Tokyo, at the doors | Tavernier 4th (74.41) · Bigot 5th (79.39) · R. Lavillenie 8th |
| The exit | Diniz abandons his last race at km 29 — the last Olympic 50 km ever |
| The nation count | France 31st — one medal from a zero not seen since Sydney 2000 |
Tokyo delivered one medal. Kevin Mayer, his back failing mid-competition, dragged himself through ten events to decathlon silver at 8726 — and that single medal was the difference between disappointment and a zero France had not known since Sydney 2000. The country finished 31st among athletics nations; the federation president conceded the balance was disappointing, and Eurosport's verdict — close to the void — named the rebuild that ended, three years later, at a home Games.
At the Doors, and an Exit
The margin between one medal and three was a few places in the hammer circle: Alexandra Tavernier finished fourth at 74.41 and Quentin Bigot — Doha's silver medallist — fifth at 79.39. Renaud Lavillenie, carrying his years, was eighth in the vault.
And one story ended on the roads of Sapporo: Yohann Diniz abandoned his final race at kilometre 29 — the last 50 km walk ever held at an Olympic Games, the event retired with him. His world record from 2014, untouched then, is untouchable now. On that same Tokyo track, Marcell Jacobs ran 9.80 and took away the European 100 m record France had shared through Jimmy Vicaut since 2015: even the records left that summer.
The last Asics season · in the archiveAsics France Pro Elite 2021 SingletAsics France singlet from the 2021 allocation — the final season of the 2013–2021 era: from 1 January 2022, France wore adidas.100,00 €View piece →The Last Asics Season
Tokyo 2021 was the farewell of Asics as outfitter of the French team: from 1 January 2022, adidas took over on a four-year deal built around Paris 2024, returning to French athletics after nine years away. The singlet we hold from the 2021 allocation is literally the last Asics uniform of the équipe de France — an era's end stitched into cloth, exactly like the Areva jacket of 2015.
The 2021 piece in this archive is the final-season Asics singlet. After it, the era closed: no French team kit has carried the Asics mark since.
The whole arc is in our history of athletics in France.
France 2021
One piece from the French team's 2021 allocation — the final-season Asics singlet. After Tokyo, the era closed: France has worn adidas since January 2022, which makes 2021 kit the last of its line.
How many medals did France win in athletics at Tokyo 2021?
One: Kevin Mayer's decathlon silver with 8726 points, competed on an injured back. It was the result that spared French athletics its first Olympic zero since Sydney 2000; the country finished 31st among athletics nations.
Who came closest to a second French medal?
The hammer throwers: Alexandra Tavernier was fourth at 74.41 and world silver medallist Quentin Bigot fifth at 79.39. Renaud Lavillenie finished eighth in the vault.
Was Tokyo really Yohann Diniz's last race?
Yes — he abandoned at kilometre 29 of the 50 km walk in Sapporo, and the event itself was retired from the Olympic programme afterwards. His 2014 world record can now never be broken at a Games.
Why is the 2021 Asics kit special?
It is the last French team kit Asics ever made: the 2013–2021 era ended after Tokyo, and adidas has dressed the FFA since 1 January 2022. The France collection holds the final-season singlet.
Sources and References
- franceinfo — Mayer’s silver with an injured back — the 8726 and the injury
- Eurosport — “proche du néant” — the 31st place among nations and the Sydney 2000 comparison
- Wikipedia — France at the 2020 Summer Olympics — Tavernier 4th, Bigot 5th, Lavillenie 8th
- Wikipedia — 2021 European Indoor Championships — the Torun golds of Mayer and Belocian
- France 24 — Diniz’s last walk — the abandonment at km 29 in Sapporo
- Sport Buzz Business — adidas dresses the FFA from 2022 — the end of the Asics era on 1 January 2022