Rouissi has followed Les Bleus everywhere they have been in international competitions since making his debut at the 1997 EuroBasket in Girona.

His trademark is to taunt France's opponents, especially when they are shooting free throws.

For some reason his voice seems to resonate a lot more than anyone else's, so much so that he can be heard throughout the entire arena and can be pretty off-putting.

Most recently he could be heard during France's fifth place win over Turkey, telling Bogdan Tanjevic's players "You're going to miss" every time they went to the charity stripe and seemingly putting them off on a few occasions.

And when he doesn't say something to the players, he usually makes some sort of a yodelling noise to put them off when they are trying to concentrate the most - with a degree of success.

His undying support has earned him the right to be known throughout France's basketball federation but more importantly by the players themselves, who simply call him by his first name and acknowledge him every chance they get.

"Jamil has been a great supporter of the national team for years," France swingman Mickael Pietrus recalls. "I can remember when I was just starting out in the national team's under age side that he was already there, supporting us at every single international competition.

"It's really great to know that he's going to be wherever we go and trying to motivate us. I'm impressed at how he always manages to make his way to where we are playing."

Ironically enough, Rouissi's profession - in light of what he does during France's games - might come as a surprise considering how vociferous and unconditional he is in his support of one team.

"I'm a public announcer for basketball teams in the Paris area," he said. "The problem in doing that kind of work is that I have to remain impartial at all times.

"I can never choose one team over another, especially since I have friends on most of them. So the only way that I can express my emotions and my real feelings is during France's games."

His most famous moment in Saitama may have been during France's qualification against Germany.

Rouissi gave Dirk Nowitzky and Germany a hard time on Thursday, yelling "kein Problem" and "keine Angst" every time they went to the foul line.

It didn't work with the German star - who went three for four from the line - but it may have worked with his team-mate Steffen Hamann, who only went four for seven from the charity stripe.

In a game that was won by the slimmest of margins, 78-77 for France, those three missed foul shots count a lot.

"German is the language I learned at school. So I thought I would speak to him in German," Rouissi said of his choice to try and get into Nowitzki's head.

With France having won the fifth place, Rouissi will now head home, happy to see that they have done so well in this tournament.

"It's great to see France finishing fifth, especially since we had to do it without Tony Parker. I think coming right behind the four top teams is where we are supposed to be," he said.

Les Bleus now hope to build on this performance and their third place finish at last year's EuroBasket to go a step further at the 2007 FIBA European Championship in Spain.

No doubt Rouissi will be there, pulling for them.

See you there Jamil.