Cyrille, were you relieved to learn of the official postponement of the Tokyo Olympics to 2021?
Cyrille Maret: We all expected it and there will only be relief when we know more about what will happen next. And I'm not talking about postponing the Games here, but about the end of confinement. This postponement seemed essential to me in view of the current economic situation. If the Games had been canceled there, it would have been hard to admit but that they are postponed seems to me logical and necessary. This announcement will allow us to respect this confinement as much as possible without being tempted to run and think about the Games in three months. It would have been complicated to live this confinement until the end of April or more, and to have to quote in secret to train in secret. Now that this postponement is official, each athlete must demonstrate civility by staying at home.
This decision will allow you to experience this confinement with less stress…
Yes quite. So far, we judokas have been confined without being able to train, if not physical maintenance and a few errands in the garden, for those lucky enough to have one. It is a relief to know that we will have time to prepare, with new programming that will give us direction.
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There was also the issue of sports equity that came up often. In judo, for example, a priori Japanese athletes were not subjected for example to the same type of confinement as you ...
Yes it's clear. If the Games had stayed on schedule, it would have been a wooden Olympics, as Philippe Lucas said. He was just telling the truth because there was no equity in the preparation. On the one hand you have athletes locked up in their homes for a month or two, less than four months before the start of the games, and on the other side athletes who can train normally or almost. It was not possible. And beyond that, for me, the Olympic Games are a very festive event. Maintaining them in July-August would have been too close to this crisis for people to benefit from. If we had to have competitions behind closed doors, that was not the Olympic spirit for me. So it's as good as it is postponed and we will find beautiful Games in the summer of 2021.
September or October this year would have been too close according to you…
Yes, it is my feeling. Organizing them during this period, in people's heads, would have been too cool. Who would have wanted to take the risk of regrouping at that time? No one would have known if the virus had been defeated. It is important not to take the current situation lightly. To be afraid of going to the Olympic Games, for me, is inconceivable. So yes, I think it was better to shift them by a full year. In a year, nobody will have forgotten what he is going through because it marks for life. However, time must be allowed for the situation to return to normal and for the Games to be experienced as a celebration, not a fear.
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