You miss only one being and everything is depopulated ... Can the famous quote apply to the French biathlon team?
This Saturday, she will be on the starting line of a new World Cup season without her charismatic leader, Martin Fourcade, who has decided to draw a line on his life as a sportsman, that of a huge champion (5 Olympic titles , 7 times winner of the World Cup, 13 times world champion).
In thirteen years of career (2007-2020), the Pyrenean has marked his discipline forever.
Like the eternal Pelé-Maradona debate to designate the greatest footballer of all time, the question can arise in biathlon between the Norwegian Ole Einar Björndalen and our national Martin Fourcade.
A retirement that had been anticipated
Wink of fate, the young retiree of 32 years won his first race and his last, at the same place, the same day, ten years apart.
It was in Kontiolahti in Finland on March 14, 2010 and 2020. It is here that the French team will write a new page in its history this Saturday.
A hoped-for new chapter as glorious as the previous one.
“We especially feel impatience,” says Simon Desthieux, 28, who is entering his 9th season with the French team.
With everything that has happened this year with the health crisis, we want to get back to competition as soon as possible.
Martin's absence was especially felt during the first internship in May.
It was weird to us that he was no longer there.
We've all known each other for a long time.
The atmosphere is good and everyone has found their place and their marks.
"
Normal, at the head of the France team, Vincent Vittoz and Patrick Favre, the shooting coach, had long anticipated the choice of Martin Fourcade.
“We didn't know if he would stop before or after the Beijing 2022 Olympic Games. Martin decided that it would be before.
It doesn't change much because we've been building a team for the Games for years.
Today we have mature boys.
The handover can be done smoothly without there being a big hole behind it.
"
A formidable French team
Led by Quentin Fillon-Maillet, third overall in the last World Cup and who hopes to do as well or better this season, the France team remains a formidable machine.
A few days before serious things.
😝⚔️🔥So impatient ...
📷 @mizenboite pic.twitter.com/wYm7DbDqcu
- Quentin Fillon Maillet (@quentinfillon) November 19, 2020
“On paper, she looks great,” assures Alexis Boeuf, the former biathlete.
She is one of the best in the world with boys like Quentin Fillon-Maillet, Simon Desthieux and Emilien Jacquelin.
It doesn't make sense to want to replace an athlete of Martin's level.
Rather, we must seek to know who is capable of becoming the leader.
Even if, in biathlon, which remains an individual sport, you don't necessarily need to have one.
I can no longer imagine a leadership which would evolve according to the state of form of each other.
Everything would no longer rest on the shoulders of one and the same person.
Which is perhaps not worse.
"
At the federal level, Stéphane Bouthiaux, the boss of Nordic skiing, admits having “had a twinge in his heart to have resumed this season without Martin.
But that doesn't change much fundamentally.
We will continue to make podiums and have titles.
Martin was a natural powerhouse but also an example.
His partners have learned a lot from him and they no longer need him to go for medals.
"
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From an economic point of view, Hervé Berna, director of communication and partnerships at the French Ski Federation, assures us: “We have kept all of our partners.
We even recorded the arrival of three new ones.
So far, we haven't measured any impact since Martin's shutdown.
Biathlon existed before him.
We had great champions like Raphaël Poirée
(four times general winners of the World Cup between 2000 and 2004)
and partners have been with us for 25 years such as Caisse d'Epargne.
"
One million viewers on average
An opinion shared by Me Delphine Verheyden, the lawyer who manages the interests of Martin Fourcade.
“It's the same for Martin.
His partners remained loyal to him when they knew he would end his career.
To my knowledge, there is no impact for the moment for biathlon in general.
Advertisers continue to broadcast competitions this season.
Let me explain it this way: we are living through a complicated period.
More than ever, the French need to escape.
We look at biathlon both for the beautiful images of nature but also for the suspense that it generates.
"
This is what Jérôme Saporito, director of the L'Équipe channel, notes. “We have been broadcasting biathlon for six years. Audiences regularly turn around one million viewers. Which is important for a channel like ours. Along with cycling and football, biathlon is one of the most successful sports. I am not worried about the coming season. Two years ago, when Martin Fourcade had a hollow in his career, audiences remained high. I am sure it will be the same this season. "
