2023-11-26 10:33:10
“Missing the Paris Olympic Games is something that no French athlete wants to think about…” Convalescing after hamstring tendon surgery, Renaud Lavillenie, gold medalist in 2012 and silver in 2016, nevertheless wants to be lucid. “If I do Paris, it will be magnificent, if that is not the case, it is not as if I were 25 years old and I missed the event of my career”, summarizes the pole vaulter who nevertheless has his destiny in the hands, the athletics selections are based on minimums, with 3 places available per event.
For other athletes, the race for selection is torture. In certain sports such as boxing, canoeing, judo or sailing, France only benefits from a quota per category or per boat. Sometimes, the Franco-French competition is so strong, the fight so fierce to win the only ticket, that non-selection risks turning into a nightmare.
Those who have experienced this in the past speak of a great emptiness, immense pain, depression, and sometimes speak of grieving. They all evoke immense loneliness. “We don’t support those who are not selected,” laments fencer Solène Butruille. From one day to the next, we no longer exist,” summarizes the woman who nevertheless hoped to appear in the foil team for the Tokyo Games in 2021.
“A humiliation”
Between the moment when the coaches decided and that of the announcement, a week passed, the time for the French Olympic committee to validate the selections. “A very long, very distressing week,” remembers Solène. They brought us together, released the baby, like that… I would have preferred that they had warned me, even by telephone. But they gave the names of those selected in front of everyone (a precedent also adopted this Friday, November 24 by the Judo Federation with around forty judokas), I understood that I was not taken, that I had beaten to have a place that I deserved and that I did not have. It was a humiliation. »
Not selected in 2021, foilist Solène Butruille (second from the right) speaks of “mourning”. She still hopes to win her place for Paris 2024. Susa Icon Sport
After the result, Solène left to hide her tears. Blandine Pont decided to leave an internship with the French judo team last summer. His non-selection for the European Championships, a crucial step in the race for the Olympics, was announced to him in a parking lot. “It was violent, we are not really prepared for this type of announcement, it is up to us to learn to detach ourselves,” says the judokate, who was then unable to defend her chances against her competitor direct, Shirine Boukli, definitely selected.
“The race for the Olympic Games is something emotionally complicated,” she sums up soberly. Many athletes are accompanied. “During preparation, we ensure that the athlete does not focus on whether or not he or she will be at the Games,” explains Lise Anhoury, psychologist from Insep. We guide him so that he puts all things in place, on his scale, so as not to have regrets, and that he concentrates on what is controllable. Maybe he won’t be selected, but for the reconstruction, it’s important that he can tell himself that he couldn’t have done more. »
Athletes “set aside” within federations
Windsurfer Pierre Le Coq is experiencing his third race at the Games, in an extremely competitive world. “I didn’t have a dream of the Paris Olympics, the support has changed (the windfoil) and we have, in France, a foil monster with Nicolas Goyard,” he summarizes. However, he participated in the selections, despite the traces left by the disappointment of 2020. “There were three French people who could claim a medal, I knew it was going to be a no-brainer, and of course I had prepared myself for this. that is painful. And it was painful,” recalls the medalist from the Rio Olympics in 2016.
The struggle between the French has left its mark. “In the end, everyone had their own training cell, it became difficult to share the same staff, relations were tense, we had the impression that the coach took care of one more than the other. ‘other. » Like other athletes, Pierre Le Coq points out the lack of support from the federations for the “shock” of non-selection. “We are focused on those who are going to the Games, those not selected have less attention, in June, they will be pushed aside even more,” believes Lise Anhoury. As a psychologist, we are very attentive to this. There is only a minority of athletes, ultimately, who will make the Games. We help those who won’t be there to continue to have goals. »
“I had put a lot of things in place on the side (he had completed dental studies) to bounce back on something else just in case,” recalls Pierre Le Coq. I couldn’t see myself digesting the non-selection with the constraint of having to find something else. But it was all the more complicated to live with because, a week after the announcement of the selections, it was the start of confinement. Digestion took place little by little, the chapter closed with the end of the Olympics. Until they arrive, you can’t help but think: What would I have done in his place? And the fact of projecting oneself does not help to turn the page. »
“I don’t know if girls understand what I’ve been through”
“I was hoping to get back into the team. On injury, on abandonment. It’s horrible to say, but until the end, we have the hope of being able to leave, even if it also means wishing for someone’s misfortune,” says Solène Butruille, who, her “mourning process” at barely started, had to… put on his outfit to serve as a training partner for the qualifiers. “It was perverse,” smiles the woman who is currently preparing for the Paris Games. This resentment serves me today. I move forward by telling myself that no one will ever do that to me again, and that I will earn my place indisputably. Not going to the Games is a loss. It takes a long time to get over it. »
Convalescing after hamstring tendon surgery, Renaud Lavillenie is not sure he will be in the game. Abaca/Icon Sport/ Laurent Lairys
“The judoka Axel Clerget, who had experienced this, warned me that I was going to shit,” continues Pierre Le Coq. He advised me to cut everything off during the Olympics so as not to suffer. Finally, I watched everything. Thomas Goyard won the silver, I told myself that I could have been in his place but also that we hadn’t put ourselves through all these years for nothing. »
“After their team silver medal, I appreciated that the girls paid tribute to the whole group. They respected the fact that, until the end, I gave everything for them to succeed in the Games that I did not do, continues Solène. Most understood my discomfort, my sadness, but I don’t know if they understand what I experienced. »
“If there was a great truth, we would apply it”
Friday, November 24, the French Judo Federation announced some of the selections, leaving judokas, some of whom could claim a medal like Julia Tolofua – which according to Lise Anhoury, “further increases the frustration” – on the sidelines. . “The Games in Paris exacerbate passions and tensions, everyone wants to participate, but there is not room for everyone,” believes Bastien Puget, in charge of the high level. Judokas, especially girls, live in a competitive environment but no matter how much we prepare them, we know that the disappointment can be immense. »
“The Games are the goal of a lifetime, at home, it’s even more grandiose,” points out Philippe Mourniac, director of the French sailing team. The selection system is complex to understand. If there was a great truth, we would apply it. » The federation keeps the selection method confidential, but the athletes “who applied to represent France” know them by heart.
“It is important that the process is clear,” adds Philippe Mourniac. I committed to calling everyone to break the news, good or bad. These are not simple moments, because an athlete is someone extremely committed who puts everything into the balance to select himself. There is something to get rid of, but behind everyone there is the desire to see the colors blue, white, red on the podiums. »
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