Dara Reimers and team USA didn’t place in the Olympics of Bread.

In Paris on Wednesday, the hometown heroes, France, took the gold in the Coupe du Monde de la Boulangerie. Taiwan took second, Italy third, according to news reports. Team USA was the defending champion.

Twelve teams from around the world compete in the elite baking event every three years.

Reimers, 47, an Auburn accountant, earned a spot on the three-person USA team last May. She had practiced two days a week since summer, in addition to flying off for team practices.

In front of a live audience, and mere feet from their competitors, each team had eight hours to pull off different types and styles of bread. Reimers’ specialty was artisan design. She made an all-bread Americana-themed baseball and apple pie piece.

“The Coupe was a very exciting and interesting experience. The level of competition and skill was very high. I had some trouble in the first hour, which reverberated through the entire day. I did get the showpiece up, but we finished over time, 25 minutes late,” Reimers said Thursday via e-mail.

“My decision to create a rustic artistic piece, with a large proportion of live (yeasted) dough, was strikingly different from the other 11 countries, who presented very polished pastry-style showpieces.”

She called baking at the international level “a privilege and an honor.”

Breaking tradition, the next Coupe is being held in 2012, in four years. An age restriction prevents Reimers from trying for the team again.