Antoine Dupont leads France to rugby sevens gold, cementing superstar status

SAINT-DENIS, France — As the ball tumbled out of the Saint-Denis sky, it seemed destined to reach the hands of one man: French rugby superstar Antoine Dupont.

In a thrilling rugby sevens final against holders Fiji, Dupont scored two tries and teed up another to clinch his country’s first gold of Paris 2024. But the man nicknamed “The Gifted” also cemented himself in the eyes of many as the sport’s best player — and possibly the greatest of all time.

“It’s always a pleasure to hear things like that, but I don’t spend a lot of time focusing on it,” Dupont, 27, told NBC News when asked about these accolades after the game. “I think now I will just enjoy my holidays,” he added with a laugh. “I am still young and I have a lot of work to do.”

After an unprecedented opening ceremony, this was the sporting moment that set these Games alight. The atmosphere inside the Stade de France descended into such delirium — fans chanting “Le Marseillaise” interspersed with DJs pumping out acerbic electro — that at times it hurt the eardrums.

Dupont, a stocky 5-foot, 9-inch, 190-pound slab of genius, started on the bench, ready to come into the game as an impact substitute. Unlike rugby union, the far slower, 15-person version of the game that lasts 80 minutes, rugby sevens is over in just 14 minutes.

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