Enzo Lefort: "At 4 years of the Olympic Games in Paris, high level sport is regressing in France"

"Shocked". This was the feeling of Enzo Lefort, world champion in foil in 2019, when he was informed of the new situation of students with the status of high-level athletes of the National School of Kinesitherapy and Rehabilitation (ENKRE) of Saint-Maurice. The latter were indeed informed by letter in early July that they would now have to pay more than 7,200 euros per year of study, against 230 euros so far. Obviously a real blow to the athletes - judokas, fencers, swimmers… - who, for the most part, have already had to make many sacrifices and who live far from the splendor of their fellow footballers. After reacting through a story on his Instagram account, Enzo Lefort agreed to confide in the subject for Le Figaro.And if he points the finger at the responsibility of the Ile de France region, it defended itself by returning the responsibility to the State .        

Enzo, you graduated from the National School of Kinesitherapy and Rehabilitation (ENKRE) in Saint-Maurice…
Enzo Lefort: Yes, I graduated there in 2018. In this school, I had the chance to benefit from scheduling and logistical arrangements allowing me to manage both my sporting and professional career. Since Saint-Maurice is a public school, the Ile de France region funded the cost of my studies. I paid the tuition - which was a little over 200 euros - like any student and then the region took care of the rest.

Support which is obviously no longer relevant ...
Yes, at the beginning of July, high-level athletic students learned that the region had stopped subsidizing them and that they were going to have to pay more than 7,000 euros per year of schooling, even though the other students will continue to pay the price of a normal start of the academic year (232 euros per year).

"Yes, there is a very strong risk of losing athletes on the way, and among them potential medal chances for Paris 2024 and beyond."

Without this grant, would you have been able to study at this school?
I think I would have done it, but I would have been in a much more precarious situation. 7.000 euros per year, knowing that I spent eight years in this school because before each Olympic Games (2012 and 2016) I took a sabbatical year, it starts to cost. Nearly 50,000 euros to pay, it is a very important sum. When I started to have very good results in fencing, I could have done it. But the question is: would I have succeeded in having very good results if I had had to spend 7,000 euros to pay for my schooling? It's not certain at all because I should have worked more outside of school to earn a little money and therefore train less.

If a solution is not found, does French sport risk losing tomorrow's champions?
Yes, I am convinced of it. When I was in this school, I saw some, after two or three years, give up on the way because it is very complicated to jointly follow a school of physiotherapy and a career of high level athlete. It is very easy to become demotivated or to fail to lead both abreast properly. So there, if in addition, the students must find such important funds, it will be complicated. Some will simply not be able to afford the six, seven or eight years of schooling they need. They will try to do it all in four years without splitting the years but frankly, to take classes full time and also train full time on the side, it's just impossible. You last a few months, but not four years. So yes, there is a very strong risk of losing athletes on the way, and among them potential medal chances for Paris 2024 and beyond.

It is a paradoxical decision while some insist on the need to put our champions in the best conditions for this 2024 deadline…
Yes, we are doing the opposite. We are in 2020 and we have been hearing promises for 2-3 years to help top athletes, to offer them some financial security. And there, we are witnessing a back-pedaling on the political level with budgets allocated to other things. In addition, here I am not talking about additional funds to improve our comfort but about fundamental funding to be able to pursue studies and a sports career.

Is this decision by the Ile-de-France region linked to the health crisis?
I don't know… It's true that this decision comes right after, so it's possible. I understand that this crisis has upset many balances and that many things must be changed. But what I regret is that it is still the athletes who bear the brunt of it.

"In France, high-level sport is too quickly assimilated with football, rugby where athletes receive very comfortable salaries."

Do you see a solution? What can you do as a top athlete who graduated from this school?
What I can do is share my experience, be the spokesperson for this cause. This is the most I can do. We must try to make things happen. On my Instagram account, I made a story to alert people to this. Other sportsmen also took the floor. It has to snowball. What annoys me is that this decision was taken like that, at the beginning of the summer, in a context that we know is difficult, for a return to school in September. It really amounts to putting the knife in the throats of top athletes. There was no preparation. Athletes have just two months to find 7,000 euros like that….

Unfortunately, it should also remind people that top-level sport is not just Neymar and Kylian Mbappé….
Yes exactly. In France, high-level sport is too quickly assimilated with football, rugby where athletes earn very comfortable salaries, not to say much more than comfortable. But at Insep, you have many athletes in a precarious situation, who must work in addition to their studies and their training. When I look back and remember the Games in London or Rio, the English and Brazilians managed to explode their home medalist record by what 5 or 6 years ago they identified potentials and put in the spotlight. 'money on them. They financed sport to democratize the practice, to improve it. In Paris, we absolutely do not take this path. We are less than four years from the Olympics at home and I have the impression that top-level sport is regressing.  

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