“From dawn until dawn, the stadium is my setting, the arena becomes my metaphor, I am a gold digger…” This verse is taken from the new musical project by Frédéric Delpla, Olympic team champion in epee in 1988 in Seoul.
Since 2018, the former fencer who ended his career at the age of 40 with a third place in the Monal challenge, has launched into singing alongside his professional activities.
President of the fencing section of Levallois SC until 2015, he took care of partnerships with high-level clubs (Racing 92, Nanterre 92, Metropolitans 92, Bourg-la-Reine 92) at the Hauts-de-Reine departmental council. Seine.
But he also has a double life which takes him in the evening to small stages, bars or holiday clubs to sing.
“When I stopped my career, I needed to find something that allowed me to create and exist,” he explains.
Even if we fencers stay in real life with a job outside of sport, when we stop, we also feel a lack, an emptiness.
The creative side served as compensation for me, and writing was a revelation, a therapy to get better.
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Frédéric Delpla (right) during his Olympic team epee title in Seoul in 1988. Presse Sports
The former fencing champion notes many parallels between sport and music: “These are two areas where there is no secret: you have to work a lot, even if you are naturally gifted.
This is not the case for me, neither in fencing nor in singing... So I took singing lessons with a teacher so that my voice was as harmonious and fluid as possible.
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“I don’t want people to say that I’m stupid”
Frédéric Delpla also believes he feels the same “pressure and exposure on a singing stage” as during a fencing assault in a major competition.
“In the end, the judgment of others and the punishment are the same.
If you're not good, you've lost, whether it's a match or the spectators.
I have always been demanding of myself.
As an athlete, I couldn't accept doing stupid things, it made me feel angry.
When I sing, it's the same.
I don't want people to say that I'm a weakling, like I didn't want people to say that about me when I was a fencer.
So I give myself every chance by doing things thoroughly.
It took me a year to release my lyrics and my music because I had to go through the phase:
Accept that people don't appreciate what you do because you can't please everyone..."
Also read: These athletes who have successfully retrained: Hugues Duboscq, from breaststroke to diving
The reception in 2018 of his first project was rather favorable.
Since then, Fred Delpla (his stage name) has been paving his way in the jungle of the musical universe.
“I am 59 years old, I know that no one expects me… But I also have things to convey and to propose.
As someone who won an Olympic team gold medal, I find a bit of this state of mind in music.
In my sport, I have often been the one who brought people together, who put things together, like in Seoul.
In music, it's the same, I'm also surrounded by a team that supports me and I feel the same team spirit between us as during major competitions.
I am a former high-level athlete but now, I hope to find the beginnings of artistic recognition with this new EP which is entitled
La Victoire est en nous
”.
The visual of Fred Delpla’s new EP, “La Victoire est en Nous”.
DR
In this Olympic year, he has chosen to combine his two worlds, sport and song.
After his first single “Chercheur d’Or” available on all download platforms and on YouTube for the clip, for about a fortnight, he will release four other pieces, one per month, between now and Paris 2024. Their titles are evocative :
Come on Children,
Doubts
,
United to win
,
I won't listen to them...
With careful arrangements and music by Vincent Lepeigneul, he chose slam to express himself: "It's rather paradoxical for me because I am more of a baritone.
But I wanted to make my lyrics stand out, to be listened to rather than heard.
People like Grand Corps Malade, Gaël Faye or Ben Mazué are references for me.
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With his texts, Frédéric Delpla claims “to have wanted to explain what we feel in certain phases as we approach a major competition”.
“There are strong, recurring themes: motivation, determination, perseverance but also the desire to show that everything is not rosy and that there can be difficult times,” he continues.
This is my testimony and these are things that seemed important to me to say.
These are motivating songs with the message: if you stick with it, you can get there.
They are aimed at everyone who wants to succeed and win.
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The fencer-singer also hopes to appear in the soundtracks of the Olympics.
“I am going to contact the organizers of Paris 2024, the CNOSF, the Club France… If they follow me, it will inevitably give more impact to this musical project.
I also hope to reach athletes and that some will listen to my songs before their competition.
Songs on this theme didn't exist... I tell myself that I would have liked to listen to them when I was an athlete.
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