2023-10-26 03:13:29
While the best swimmers in France are preparing to compete in the French Championships, this Thursday in Angers, a member of the French team announces that she is ending her career. Fantine Lesaffre, 28, announced in a message published on social networks this Wednesday that her life “as a high-level swimmer and athlete is ending. » Less than ten months before the Paris Olympic Games.
European champion in the 400m medley in 2018, the Frenchwoman who now trains near Toulouse, explains that she no longer wants to endure the constraints of a life as a high-level athlete.
“This decision may seem bizarre, thoughtless or selfish in this Olympic year, but on the contrary, believe me,” she wrote. Swimming demands a lot! Time, sacrifices, efforts… An Olympic year requires 10 times more. You have to be ready to be above the rest, to do more than the girls next door, more time, more effort, more sacrifices. These last few weeks have made me realize that this is no longer what I want. »
“Glad to have made this decision before it was too late”
Having passed through the clubs of Roubaix, Mulhouse, Rennes, Marseille and even Antibes, Fantine Lesaffre says she is “happy to have made this decision before it is too late”. “Few athletes have the chance to decide when is the right time to stop. And I do it according to my choices, my desires. No failure, no crying or anxiety attacks but with a smile on your face! This smile that characterizes me so much,” she continues.
Selected for the Rio Olympics and then the Tokyo Olympics, the swimmer seemed to be heading towards another participation in the Games, this time in Paris. Still holder of the French record for the 400m medley (4′34″17), and French champion 26 times (18 titles in the long course, 8 in the short course), the Northerner finally bows out.
Several members of the French swimming team have already welcomed his message published on social networks. Her teammate Charlotte Bonnet writes in particular: “Proud of you, of your career, of the woman that you are”.
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