Keen to earn a spot on the French team for the 2012 Summer Olympics, he entered the Tiberias Marathon for a second year running and this time came out as winner, narrowly beating Francis Kibiwott Larabal and setting a personal best of 2:07:30 hours. This was an "A" standard time and at the age of 37 he made his Olympic debut in the marathon. However, in his third top level performance in the distance, he again failed to finish the race. Nevertheless, his time from the Tiberias Marathon ranked him as Europe's top marathon runner that year.