PARIS (Rio 2016 Olympic Games) - France head coach Vincent Collet knows all about pressure. He has, for the past several years, led a mission to take the French to the top in international basketball. It's hard to find fault with his performance.

Collet pulled the right strings as France reached the Final of EuroBasket 2011 in Lithuania to qualify for the London Games. He then steered Les Bleus to the EuroBasket 2013 title in Slovenia.

At the 2014 FIBA Basketball World Cup, Collet's France upset hosts Spain, the No. 2 team in the FIBA World Ranking, in the Quarter-Finals and finished third while last year, France again clinched third place at the EuroBasket on home soil in Lille.

Faced with the difficult task of winning the FIBA Olympic Qualifying Tournament (OQT) in Manila to reach the Rio de Janeiro Games, France, under Collet, did just that with wins over the Philippines, New Zealand, Turkey and Canada.

Now France are looking to improve on their performance in London by not just reaching the Quarter-Finals as they did four years ago but by getting to the podium. They would appear to have as good a chance as any of the teams in Rio of getting a medal.

"The important thing is to learn to handle the event. There's this magic side of the Games which we can not ignore. There is a little loss of concentration and we must learn to refocus for games. There are rest days." - Collet

"I think we are better equipped in terms of (playing) staff than four years ago, and I also think there is the experience in the group that will count," Collet said.

"The group has not changed much. There are six players who were in London - half of the team. That's still a strong core. It is clear that this is an advantage for understanding the competition."

The six players that have the London Games under their belts are Tony Parker, Boris Diaw, Florent Pietrus, Mickael Gelabale, Nicolas Batum and Nando de Colo.

Bring in the likes of giant center Rudy Gobert of the Utah Jazz and Denver Nuggets power forward Joffrey Lauvergne, point guards Thomas Heurtel and Antoine Diot, forward Charles Kahudi and center Kim Tillie and France have a very good team.

Rudy Gobert (FRA) gives France a rim protector

Collet and several of the players have the experience of London, and the coach says this is invaluable.

"The important thing is to learn to handle the event," Collet said. "There's this magic side of the Games which we can not ignore. There is a little loss of concentration and we must learn to refocus for games. There are rest days.

"Programming is a little different from a European Championship in which we play every day. There is a little time during which we can further enjoy the Games and on game days, the concentration has to be at its maximum."

FIBA