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Antoine Dupont passes new major milestone just days after Olympic gold
By Josh Raisey
Antoine Dupont joined a club even more elusive than being an Olympic gold medalist over the weekend by becoming an active rugby player with 1 million followers on Instagram.
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Just hours after the France star was having an Olympic gold medal draped around his neck on Saturday for his exploits in rugby sevens, his follow count crept over that landmark number.
The 27-year-old now joins a very elite club comprising South Africa captain Siya Kolisi and United States sevens star Ilona Maher in having over 1 million followers on Instagram.
While the Frenchman’s recent accomplishments on a rugby pitch will be tough to better, he has actually been eclipsed by Maher in his social media battle.
As Dupont achieved his milestone on Instagram, Maher reached 1.4 million followers, which made her the most followed active rugby player on the social media platform. The double World Cup-winning Springbok Kolisi had held that mantle for a while with his 1.3 million followers, but he now has been consigned to second place.
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On the pitch, however, Dupont is unrivalled currently. His gold medal in Paris came just a matter of weeks after he guided Toulouse to an Investec Champions Cup and Top 14 double, leaving fans online to debate relentlessly whether the scrum-half has cemented his status as the greatest player of all time.
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The impact he has on the game of 15s is undisputed, but he has proven to be equally as influential in the game of 7s. Though he did not start in the final against Fiji, he produced what is likely to be viewed upon in the annals of rugby as one of the legendary cameos from the bench in the second half at the Stade de France, with two tries and an assist to his name.
Trailing by 400,000 followers, Dupont will certainly need to up his game on social media though if he has any hope of overtaking rugby Instagram’s runaway leader in Maher.
