Antoine Dupont, the new superhero of French sport
In two meetings, Antoine Dupont convinced us. Convinced that he is an exceptional sportsman, excellent, lively and unpredictable on the rugby pitches, frank, humble and reserved outside. Before our first meeting in July 2021, we relied on the rumors about Antoine Dupont: « He’s a cream, a nice guy, but he’s quite shy and doesn’t talk too much ». We shouldn’t have. Because the scrum half of the France team is certainly a real cream but he is indeed talkative and not only when we talk about rugby. The first forty-minute interview over a coffee in the Parisian premises of the Bros agency, which manages its image and its sponsors as it does with world champion footballers Blaise Matuidi and Presnel Kimpembé, was fascinating, rich in discoveries. and in laughter. His height of seventy-four and his eighty-five kilos are not impressive, even if we would not dare to challenge the man on a field or during a third half. On the other hand, the way in which he recounts his life, evokes his sport, his « friend » Jean Dujardin who comes to see all the matches of the French team and even some training sessions in Marcoussis, the famous World Cup which will be held in France at the end of 2023, his family values which made him take over his grandparents’ former hotel-restaurant so as not to leave it abandoned, his sponsor posts on his Instagram account to monetize his image or his youth on the side of Lannemezan, in the Pyrenees, is frankly stunning. He goes from one subject to another without flinching. Perhaps his rich academic background helps him and offers him facilities to juggle with words, ideas, explanations.
“I did not see myself leaving in life without any school background explains Antoine Dupont. I was doing well at school, I had facilities, it would have been a waste to do nothing. And if I didn’t study there, I wouldn’t do it again later.” He claims to have launched into it “quietly, without the fuss”, which he did well: a baccalaureate with honors (“I hadn’t killed myself at the task to revise!”), then a DUT Physical Measurements to go to engineering school. But the pace is too fast between the training sessions and the engineering preparation, so he reorients himself towards a STAPS (Sciences and techniques of physical and sports activities), in the sports management sector “to keep a commercial side”. Finally, in 2020, he obtained a Master 2 in a management school in Toulouse, the TSM (Toulouse School of Management), without this seeming abnormal to him even though the majority of his teammates and players of his generation focus on the high-level port. Bluffing we tell you this Antoine Dupont. Refreshing too.
