Astrid Guyart, fencing champion and author of children's books

In full preparation for the Tokyo Games and in parallel with her work as an aerospace engineer at ArianeGroup, the French fencer Astrid Guyart, in collaboration with the illustrator Olivier Loyen, has just published a children's book, “Jo, tout feu all ice ”. This fifth volume is part of "Incroyables meetings de Jo", a collection of books for children aged 6 to 10. This idea came to him from his niece: "I wanted to give him a book on sport, but in a bookshop apart from football, it didn't exist," says Astrid Guyart at Le Figaro . "So, I thought I was going to write him stories about sport and its values," she adds.

This adventure started at a time when the fencer was under pressure: she had just qualified individually for the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. And writing was an ideal activity to focus on the competition, as she says it: "When I started to write, it was a real bubble of air, it allowed me to refocus on the values ​​of fencing and sport in general". And over the years, "it has become a real personal pleasure that I enjoy in my spare time, like anyone would go to the cinema or to an exhibition," she explains.

With "The incredible Jo encounters", Astrid Guyart wanted to honor the French Olympic champions. This collection takes the form of illustrated children's books in which the young hero named Jo (for the Olympic Games) discovers a sport and meets a child of his age, who will become 20 years later a great French athlete. In each volume, the encounter and the experiences lived by the hero allow him to overcome certain situations. For example, in the first book "Jo haut perché", the character meets Vanessa Boslak, vice world champion of pole vault, and learns to free himself from the gaze of others. Emmeline Ndongue, Olympic vice-champion of basketball, is honored in volume 3, and Jo faces the difference. Beyond sport, these stories are above all life lessons.

The six-time medalist in the world fencing championships admits that this project allowed her to discover other sports: “It's a real personal enrichment. In the first five volumes, Jo meets champions that I know personally, and beyond their record, they have a great humanity, and that's also what I wanted to highlight. ”

"Jo, tout feu tout glace", the fifth volume in the Astrid GuyartFnac children's book collection

The fifth volume "Jo, tout feu tout glace" talks about figure skating. And the book was published on February 6, in the midst of a scandal of sexual violence in the sports world and in particular skating. About this event, Astrid explains that "unfortunately, we do not manage the news, and the release date of the book had been planned for months". The French foilist is one of the members of the commission for high-level athletes who have written, signed and published a forum to call for "breaking the silence" in sport. And she does not see the current circumstances as a brake on the sale of her latest volume: "In the end, in a moment like this when sport is hit by such a scandal, my book may remind you that sport isn’t is not that. It is above all values, mutual aid, sharing, solidarity and exceptional encounters. And a child can only thrive by joining a sports club. ”

Before producing her next volume, Astrid Guyart must first take up a major challenge. From July 24 to August 9, the French fencer will participate in the Tokyo Olympics with the French foil team. During the competition, she may meet the future champion that she will highlight in her next volume!

"Jo, tout feu tout tout glace", Astrid Guyart and Olivier Loyen, Le Cherche midi editions, € 9.90

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