posted May 24th, 2018 - Gavroche Weembi from France was recently part of two NSL News stories that were not directly related to each other. The competition videos of the French 4-way team at the World Challenge 2018 were posted on 22 May 2018 with the story of the 3-team battle for the 5th place.

The earlier story on 17 May 2018 confirmed that France will not have an 8-way team at this year's FAI World Championship of Formation Skydiving in Australia.

The two stories still connect since Gavroche Weembi has a very deep 8-way history. The French national 8-way team of 2006, 2008, 2010 and 2012 also included the members who would become the new French national team in 4-way Open in 2007: Julien Degen, Jeremie Rollett, Mathieu and Guillaume Bernier, plus Manu Sarrazin who replaced Jeremie Rollett in 2012.

The other members of the 8-way lineup did not only train in their prime event and waited for the next 8-way camp. In fact, they enjoyed 4-way competition just as much and eventually formed their own team to attend 4-way meets, as well. Gavroche was born.

World Challenge 2008			1	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	Total	Avg
Rank	AAA Class		21,18,13	15,11,F	E,H,19,O	14,2,N	12,1,K	Q,5,C,3	P,9,A,J	6,G,7	4,10,M	16,20,B	Total	Avg
1	Airspeed Odyssey	US	21	26	37	23	22	33	45	29	21	26	283	28.3
2	XL	UK	22	25	38	23	23	30	43	29	24	24	281	28.1
3	Perris Fury	US	21	21	33	22	21	27	43	29	22	22	261	26.1
4	Arcteryx	NO	20	23	33	21	21	29	39	29	23	22	260	26.0
5	HayaBusa Defence	BE	20	23	35	20	21	22	42	26	23	22	254	25.4
6	Skylight Barkli	RU	19	16	33	20	17	24	45	26	21	21	242	24.2
7	Aerokart Mamba Pamiers	FR	18	22	29	18	18	26	37	24	21	18	231	23.1
8	Satori	UK	19	22	28	20	18	26	36	24	17	19	229	22.9
9	Paraclete XP	US	19	20	29	18	18	23	36	26	21	17	227	22.7
10	Bodyflight Storm	UK	18	21	26	20	18	23	39	26	19	16	226	22.6

The 4-way training and competition of both teams naturally supported the 8-way performance, and results were the three sets of 8-way gold medals and one 2nd place (2012) in this time period.

The NSL News records are showing the first Gavroche scores at the World Challenge 2008 under the team name Aerokart Mamba Pamiers.

The national 4-way team did not compete in Bedford that year, where NMP PCH HayaBusa finished 5th and Arizona Airspeed 1st.

The French 8-way team would later win the FAI gold medals in Maubeuge, and the 4-way team ended up one single point behind Airspeed.

Aerokart Mamba Pamiers is one of the team names that the second half of the 8-way team have used since 2008, and Gavroche was introduced in 2013. Arnaud Mille and Julien Olek in the first lineup were not members of the 8-way team in 2008 and would be selected later.

Clement Martin Saint Leon, Julien Olek, Bruno Perin and Thomas Perrin Gachadoat were in the first lineup under Gavroche when they competed at the Aerokart Indoor Championship 2013.

It was the first meet after the last official assignment for the most successful French national 8-way team at the FAI Mondial 2012. A new 8-way lineup was selected for the FAI World Meet 2014 in Prostejov.

The first Gavroche members of 2013 had trained together in 4-way and 8-way until 2012 and then continued in 4-way. Clement Martin Saint Leon, Julien Olek and Thomas Perrin Gachadoat were still together for Gavroche at the French Indoor Nationals 2018.

New national coach Mathieu Bernier called back his former team mates for a new 8-way assignment in 2016. The complete Gavroche lineup of 2013 was back in 8-way action, together with four other selected former 8-way world champions, and they won another set of silver medals for France at the FAI Mondial 2016.

Gavroche Weembi has become a reliable asset at 4-way indoor meets after the team members have neither been called for French 4-way or 8-way duties any longer, and the lineup is also more flexible.

In fact, B-Team members Gaëlle Giesen and Aurélien Lemaire competed for Gavroche Weembi at the World Challenge 2018, after Julien Degen, Julien Olek, Jeremie Rollett and Clement Martin Saint Leon had represented Gavroch at the Wind Games 2018.

Julien Degen and Jeremie Rollett were 8-way world champion team mates in 2006 and 2008 and won 4-way gold together in 2010.

Julien Degen is running the Weembi operation in Lille and challenged NMP PCH HayaBusa with the High Rollers last year, while Jeremie Rollett is coaching the Qatar Tigers.

Gavroche competed at 4-way outdoor meets only in 2008 and 2009, while they were in the French 8-way team, and they have attended only indoor meets ever since.

Over the years, 13 Gavroche members (Clement Martin Saint Leon, Manu Sarrazin, Arnaud Mille, Thomas Perrin Gachadoat, Julien Olek, Bruno Perin, Erwan Pouliquen, Jeremie Rollett, Julien Degen, Florian Denonfoux, Gaëlle Giesen, Aurélien Lemaire, Eliott Lesimple) have competed in various lineups of older and younger generations of French 4-way and 8-way competitors.

There is one Gavroche member who has not missed any of the 25 indoor and outdoor meets that the French team has attended in the last decade since 2008. Clement Martin Saint Leon was the youngest team member when he was selected for the French national 8-way team and became a main factor later in starting the 4-way project.

Clement Martin Saint Leon has won three 8-way gold (2006, 2008, 2010) and two silver medals (2012, 2016) for France while he has been a passionate 4-way competitor at the same time.

France has given up 8-way competition at FAI events for now, and Clement Martin Saint Leon can continue to put his whole energy into Gavroche Weembi 4-way - whether he might be called again to 8-way duties one day or not...