"I really feel like the champion who never dies, who endures what life presents... After a four-year and nine-month suspension for having evaded an anti-doping test during a training camp in Marrakech (Mar), Clémence Calvin, 33, resumed her career last Sunday.
The 2018 European marathon runner-up competed in the 10 km of the Nice Prom Classic (4th in 32′54). "I'm happy to get started," she explained in a long interview with L'Équipe. I've never mentioned the subject of a sports retreat (...) When the final suspension was lifted, I never asked myself what to do next. I'm someone who lives in the moment. I was nourished by the love of my son, then we started with the project of having a second child (with her husband Samir Dahmani, who was also suspended for four years for complicity in anti-doping rule violations). »
During her pregnancy, the resident of the Martigues club followed an online training course and worked as a psychomotor therapist in child psychiatry at the city's day hospital with autistic children.
"It allowed me to project myself towards other things, to put it all into perspective," she continues. I was quickly valued by all my other skills (...) It gave me the opportunity to live a normal life. There are good and bad sides to every fact of life. I never thought about quitting. I was in real life and it was packed. Now, I'm giving myself the opportunity to resume at a high level. »
"I'm running for myself first and foremost"
Since 2019, the Vichy native has continued to run regularly to maintain her body but without considering herself an athlete. She also navigates by sight and confesses that she will not be stubborn if she does not obtain results. And he approaches the possibility of the Paris Olympics with a certain philosophy, even fatalism.
"The Games are not a dream, it's a goal," she said. If I meet the criteria and I'm needed, I'll be there. But I'm not going to fight against an iron pot, I gave for it. I run first and foremost for myself. I give myself the opportunity to come back. »
She has until April 30 to try to achieve the Olympic minimum in the marathon (2:26:50). Four French women already meet the qualification criteria but the France team will only be able to field three at the Games.
Calvin knows that his return may make some people cringe or draw criticism. "I'm not trying to prove something to someone. That's why I'm detached because I don't feed on people's hatred or the pleasure I can get from running," she replies. I'm taking it back because if I don't do it now, I won't do it when I'm 40. I'm giving myself the chance to do it. »