"No problem, we can wait," immediately reacted the decathlete Kevin Mayer on learning of the postponement of the Olympics. Judo champion Clarisse Agbegnenou lived it, "like a heartbreak". If the vast majority of athletes, as psychologist Meriem Salmi, accustomed to working with champions, points out, are "aware that there are much more serious things to worry about now", the IOC decision, to cause of coronavirus, "created a shock".
"As an athlete, we dedicate our life to sport, it's been almost four years that I prepare physically and psychologically for a single competition, the one originally scheduled for July 28, 2020", summarizes Clarisse Agbegnenou. "It's necessarily hard, it was there, we were in the final stretch and we will have to reconfigure everything," notes Guillaume Chiellino, director of the French sailing teams.
"Athletes do not question the fact that people's lives are more important than anything," says Meriem Salmi. But they live in a world where there are always goals. The postponement of the Olympic Games shifts everything, at a time when they are experiencing a situation of unprecedented containment. They must completely review their way of operating and build a new scheme with other benchmarks. "
"If we do it right, we will be even better"
Again, athletes can react differently. “In some sports, there are other competitions than the Olympic Games and which are still planned for the moment. For others, such as team sports, if the championships are canceled, there may be a moment of uncertainty, says Jérôme Simian, physical trainer of many athletes, including Kevin Mayer and Melina Robert-Michon. In my approach, postponing the Games will not change anything, theoretically, if we do things right, we will be even better than we would have been this summer. "
“My work with the athletes that I am is to get them to accept another way of organizing, to think about training and their lives in a more global way. An extraordinary situation requires a completely new adaptation, underlines Meriem Salmi. But inevitably, the athletes will be forced to re-mobilize when they hit the goal. Some people are asking questions - will I still be here in a year? - or may feel injustice. "
"We will not emerge unchanged from this period"
All will have to leave, without really knowing when the recovery can take place. Or even the Olympic Games, the IOC having not yet fixed dates. “To advance you need a goal, a finish line, says Guillaume Chiellino. When we come out of this containment tunnel, the Games may be re-fixed, we can then reset a calendar and prepare. Like before or almost. "It will be necessary to accompany the exit, because states of post-traumatic stress can appear, in sportsmen as for the whole of the population", notes Meriem Salmi, who recalls that "the high level sportsman has a very strong capacity to adapt but there is still a human being ”.
"We don't know when yet, but the time will come when the sport will take over," continues Guillaume Chiellino. We will not give up on 2020 by saying that it was a season for nothing, nine World Championships in different disciplines have taken place. We will leave gradually, through training, then competitions in France, Europe and around the world. But it is certain that we will not emerge unchanged from this period and that it will take time to rehabilitate. "
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“Socially, we will have to be vigilant, warns Jérôme Simian. The financial reality of the athletes will have to be considered. It will not necessarily affect the medalists, but those who qualify on the wire, who have an Olympic project with very short-term contracts. They will have to leave for a year, without knowing if their partners will be able to follow them. "