| The 3 winning teams |
| France: the world champions! |
| What is their secret? |
19/06/08
After a 12-year wait… the French are once again the world champions!
Take 50% determination, 25% team spirit, throw in 25% outstanding coaching, not to mention the generous smattering of fair play this team showed towards the other contestants during the competition, and you just about have the secret winning recipe of the French team, the new world champions.
One of them tells us: “The Cup involves teamwork, I get on very well with my other two team members. During training and competitions, I never found myself working alone. The coach was also always there to support us, in our weak moments as well as during certain difficult times! He really looked after us from the first training right up until the World Cup. Alone, I would never have succeeded.”
Pierre Zimmerman, the coach for the French team and world champion at the Bakery World Cup in 1996, could well have been forgiven for thinking that he had travelled back in time 12 years: "It was, without a doubt, my experience as a contestant and the international aspects of my work which influenced me the most in my role as coach. I lived the moment with them, from the Louis Lesaffre Cup through to the World Cup just as if I was still a contestant myself. And it was a real pleasure for me to have worked with such outstanding professionals! I came out of this exhausted, but very happy and proud of our work".
In addition to this victory, we should also add the nomination which rewards the four best contestants in each category, and which will see all three of them competing at the 2010 World Bakery Championship solo competition.
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| Taiwan: The world runners-up! |
| A team full of surprises... |
19/06/08
Glory for Taiwan during their first ever event!
"Just like well-trained soldiers, we prepared to do battle to scoop victory at the World Cup!".
Far from being unsettled by their victory during the Louis Lesaffre Cup selection round for Asia in 2007, the Taiwanese team doggedly continued its onward march to their place on the winner's rostrum at the World Cup. The competitors were somewhat emotional, particularly toward the end of the competition which they described as "going very well, exactly as planned, when all of a sudden time began ticking by, the atmosphere became increasingly tense, and the public's attention was fixed firmly on us as we were ahead of the other teams. But the stress was telling on us right up to the last minute. There was a moment of panic when we realised a small loaf was missing! We hunted around frantically for it as the clock ticked on and by a miracle we found it! We finished five minutes ahead".
However, their excellent performance certainly didn't end there. Two of the contestants were chosen for the Baguettes and Special loaves categories, as well as for the Artistic Piece category. We will therefore be meeting up with them once again in 2010 for the Bakery World Cup solo competition.
On arriving back home, they were warmly welcome and congratulated by their fellow countrymen.
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| Italy on the winner's rostrum! |
| Delighted with their performance and ready for a fresh competition. |
19/06/08
All three will be participating in the Bakery World Cup solo competition in 2010.
Italy also participated for the first time ever in the World Cup, and put in a fine showing! Although third place on the winner's rostrum is never easy to accept, the team were delighted: "We had very little time in which to prepare as at the end of the international selection round for the Louis Lesaffre Cup in November 2007, we had to prepare for the World Cup in just four months, at a time when we were already very busy with other events in our profession including Christmas, the carnival and Easter" explained Armando Guerini, a contender for the Artistic Piece.
The team also managed another great achievement: each of the competitors was selected for his outstanding work in each category to participate in the Bakery World Cup solo competition in 2010. They are naturally determined to throw themselves wholeheartedly into their preparations and to come away as World Cup champions this time!
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| The Bakery World Cup 2008 |
| A peak achievement. |
19/06/08
The 2008 winners' rostrum: France, Taiwan, Italy.
Since its creation in 1992, the World Cup has come a long way!
Very European at its beginning, the second event of the World Cup enlarged to The United States and Japan. Other countries soon joined, expanding the scope of this competition, Chile in 1999, South Korea and Uruguay in 2002.
Nevertheless, it was in 2005 with the organisation of the national and international selection rounds of the Louis Lesaffre Cup that the World Cup really took a global dimension. 35 countries participated in the pre-selection rounds in six regions around the world: Western Europe, Eastern Europe, Asia-Pacific, Latin America, Central Europe and Africa/Middle East.
In 2008 these new countries trained hard for the event and clearly demonstrated their potential by offering stiff competition for those countries already accustomed to performing at competition level. The level of the competing teams has constantly improved. We bet that the 2012 World Cup will be an exciting one!
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19/06/08
They kept us glued to our seats!
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Mr Kamal Rahal Essoulami, Jury chairman for the 2008 Bakery World Cup.
Kamal Rahal Essoulami took part in the Louis Lesaffre Cup as a jury member for the first time in November 2004. Along with the Lesaffre group's subsidiary SODERS he supported the Moroccan team. In 2006, he organised the selection round for the Moroccan team at the Crémaï show in Casablanca (a show he personally manages). As a jury member for the Louis Lesaffre cup in 2007, he once again widened his experience of the international baking sector.
It was thanks to his in-depth knowledge of exactly what it takes to make a champion that he was asked to chair the jury for the 2008 World Cup. He shared his initial impressions of the event with us: "I take my hat off to all of these teams, as they all gave their best to reach the World Cup final. Reaching such an advanced level is an incredible human and professional achievement. Their products were both modern and original, and kept us glued to our seats!"
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