2023-09-26 13:43:36
We can no longer count the number of times his career is taken as an example in Champigny. A boxer who grew up in the city, trained in the neighborhood boxing gym and climbed to the top of the Olympic podium in Rio in 2016, that is the dream of many. On the occasion of the release of her book “Maman t’crit,” the sportswoman spoke to Le Parisien.
You went to live in the United States with your husband Tony Yoka, are you still regularly present in Champigny?
I come back very often. I spend a month and a half there and I come back to Champigny for a month. We advise according to the periods. I’m coming back to see my loved ones and for the medical follow-up of my son (Editor’s note: little Ali born in August 2017). I’m also here because I like it. We bought a house in Cœuilly a year ago.
Do you also like it near San Francisco?
It’s an enrichment to be there. At 25, it’s time to live this experience. It’s not easy, I lack reference points, I miss my local grocery store or my beautician in Champigny, but professionally, it’s an opportunity.
Do you still frequent your Champigny club?
I spend very little time at the boxing gym, I don’t train here anymore, but I often check in on everyone. I am in contact a lot with my trainer Karim Adjir. I am preparing my return to competition, I am putting together my team. When I walk around Champigny, the people are very nice. The excitement that followed the Games has subsided, hellos and congratulations have replaced selfies, it’s easier to live with.
You got involved in the Champigny Terre de Réussite collective created at the beginning of the year…
I often go to the town hall, I have contacts there. I always keep an eye on what is happening in Champigny. When I was approached by the collective, I immediately joined. I appreciate that things are being done to highlight the talents of Champigny and it is important for me to take my part in this movement. I couldn’t be at the rally in early February, but I sent a video.
Are you planning to go further? To be present on a municipal list?
In the longer term, why not? My commitment could become political, but first I have 3-4 years of sport ahead of me and will require total investment. I have experience, I want to pass it on, but not as a coach. I want to promote the values of sport.
Recently, you saw Brigitte Macron and the Minister of Sports. What did you defend?
I presented them with my European observatory for women’s sport and given my career, they can hear me. Improving the practice of sport by girls involves investing in the comfort of training locations. When I started, there was no girls’ locker room in the boxing gyms. Fortunately, the one that saw the light of day in Champigny is large and equipped. In this city, there are facilities, we communicate about sport, and all disciplines are represented, take advantage of it!
The champion recounts her journey in a confession book
It is with the help of journalist and independent producer Souad Soulimani, who grew up in Seine-Saint-Denis, that Estelle Mossely wrote in “Maman t’crit”, recently published by MédiaSpoliS. In these 200 pages, the champion wants to share her journey with her son, and thus share with the reader the obstacles she overcame to become such a great athlete. She entrusts her childhood in Champigny, with her Congolese father and her Ukrainian mother, to her son Ali. The little one was born in August 2017 to two Olympic champion parents, since his father is none other than Tony Yoka, also a gold medalist in Rio in 2016. From his first steps in the boxing gym to the recent creation of his European observatory of women’s sport, the reader will discover Estelle Mossely’s vision of sport. Boxing fans will appreciate the details of his most important ring fights. The book is already a success in bookstores.
“Mom writes to you”, published by MédiaSpoliS. €12.
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