Two eliminations in the semi-finals, two speeches, two atmospheres… Charlotte Bonnet (200 m NL) and Léon Marchand (200 m butterfly), the only French competitors, were both taken out on Tuesday morning in the semi-final in the basin of the Tokyo Aquatics Center.
A real blow for the first, an apprenticeship for the second ...
“It's obviously a disappointment, blows the swimmer from Nice, very affected by her 13th time (in 1′57′'35). I wanted to enter the final. I knew it would be complicated because my year has been super complicated. All year round, prepared or not, I swam in the same waters. A mixture of mental and physical that did not live up to what I expected. It makes me sad and it disappoints me because it was accessible and it was close to my heart ... "
The 2018 European champion still has the 100m NL and the 4 x 200m on the program. But she is already looking beyond Tokyo. “To experience this in the year of the Games is very hard,” she says. I hope it won't be my last, that I will go to Paris so as not to end up on it. I was already super happy to qualify and there might be a problem. It should have been super simple at my level
(Editor's note: she waited for the last deadline of the French Championships in mid-June to get her ticket)
. I have to put things back on track and find myself in order to know what I want to do. "
🇫🇷Charlotte Bonnet fails in the semi-final of the 200m freestyle
La Niçoise finishes with the 6th fastest time in her semi-final (1.57.35)
🗣️ No French women for the final, tomorrow at 3:41 am # Tokyo2020 #Olympic
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- France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 27, 2021
His eleven years of collaboration with Fabrice Pellerin will soon come to an end.
“I really need a break to ask myself the right questions,” she continues.
I am 26 years old, I do not have the same expectations as at 15. I cannot find solutions to my questions.
I would just like to regain my level of three or four years ago but it seems so far to me today.
I think I deserve better than that.
"
Léon Marchand, on the contrary, does not look back.
The 19-year-old Toulouse prodigy has the future ahead of him.
After narrowly qualifying for the semi-finals, the TOEC Dolphins swimmer, who will leave for the United States next year, finished 14th (in 1′55′'68).
Even if he is a bit choosy, the young man is happy with it.
“It's disappointing because the access to the final was rather open, he breathes.
Even if I'm already happy with my week (Editor's note: sixth in the 400m medley final) it was a little bonus, we always want to look better.
I was fine during the race but I sinned in the last fifteen meters, that's what disappoints me a bit… ”
