Several are under 18 and already wear gold. Frenchman Mady Sow, 16, impressed during these Games despite a lost final. These medals involve athletes under 18. None is yet a professional, but all are already integrated into the training centers of major French clubs.
The French delegation has already collected eight medals at the Youth Olympic Games, including three gold. The first, a gold, was won last week in rugby sevens.
Since that success, the French athletes have added seven more: two gold, three silver and two bronze. The gold in rugby sevens and the silver in badminton are among the results already secured.
For the president of the National Olympic Committee, these Games are a perfect laboratory. They serve to test these young talents at the highest level and to spot future French champions.
Their elders, for their part, had taken gold at the Paris Olympic Games. The next generation is now held to the same standard of demand, on a different scale.
The competition is not over. French athletes still have five days to shine, notably in gymnastics, beach handball and breakdancing.
In badminton, France had never won a single Olympic medal. That was before these Games: the young French athletes took silver there.
The provisional tally already points to a fine harvest for this generation, still far from professional status but already facing international competition.