This time it’s over. After several twists and turns, the leader Céline Dumerc will end her career after the playoffs of the French championship. “End of suspense, this time I’m quitting!” “, published the Tarbaise, Tuesday, May 2 on its social networks, ending twenty-three professional seasons in basketball. European champion in 2009 and Olympic vice-champion in 2012 with Les Bleues, Céline Dumerc will bow out on a final consecration. By crossing the 4,649 points scored in the Women’s Basketball League (LFB), Saturday, April 8, “Caps” became the best scorer in the history of the championship.
After three seasons in the club of her hometown, Tarbes (Hautes-Pyrénées), Céline Dumerc continues her career with the Tangos de Bourges – a flag club for French women’s basketball. Following the success of the French team in 2009, during the European Championships in Riga, the player became an icon of French basketball. And his sparkling performances at the London Olympics (2012), where his “Braqueuses” won the silver medal, anchored him to the firmament of French sport.
After playing in Russia and then in the WNBA, under the jersey of the Atlanta Dream, Céline Dumerc chose to return to the country in 2016 and returned to the South West, in the rising club of Basket Landes (Mont-de-Marsan).
A great enthusiast of the orange ball, Céline Dumerc has postponed her retirement many times. “If I only spoke from my heart, the love of this game would carry me on to eternity,” the basketball player tweeted. After a farewell tour mistreated by the restrictions linked to Covid-19, the player announced her retirement from the parquet floors in 2021, before reconsidering her decision.
An exceptional track record
But putting away the jerseys does not mean that she will leave this sport. The tireless No. 9 of Basket Landes has held the position of general manager of the French women’s team since 2020, and should remain close to competition at least until the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. She is also starting a career change to take up the position of sports director in her Landes club.
The most capped player in the national team, Céline Dumerc made basketball history, alongside her compatriot Tony Parker, with whom she shared her training at Insep between 1997 and 2000. In addition to her 262 selections, the leader has accumulated collective and individual successes. A total of seven French championships, as many French cups and a Eurocup (in 2016), plus two MVP (best player) titles in LFB.
But before bowing out for good, the one whose decisive three-pointers lit up the evenings of the London Olympics has one final battle to fight. The announcement of his retirement comes a few hours before a crucial meeting. A week after winning the Coupe de France at the expense of Asvel, Basket Landes faces Bourges on Tuesday May 2 (8:50 p.m.) in the quarter-finals of the French championship. If the Landaises do not qualify for the semi-finals at the end of the return match, the meeting on the Tangos floor – one of its former clubs – on Saturday May 6 will be Céline Dumerc’s last dance on a wooden floor.
