From light to shade.
In 2019, Coraline Vitalis was on the rise.
European champion in épée in Düsseldorf in front of her compatriot Marie-Florence Candassamy, she thus became the first Frenchwoman to achieve such a performance since a certain Laura Flessel in 2007. In the wake, the Guadeloupean, then aged 24, confirmed by narrowly failing at the foot of the podium of the World Championships in Budapest, beaten by Hong Kong Vivian Kong (15-9).
A very good year which should naturally have allowed him to approach the Tokyo Games in 2020 in the costume of a potential medalist.
Alas, it was not going to be, and not only because of the future global pandemic ...
To discover
The full program of the Olympic Games
Without a win for over a year
Thus, Vitalis did not know a start to the year 2020 backfiring, with in particular three successive eliminations in the first round in Doha, Barcelona and Budapest. And then in March, the Covid-19 turned the entire international calendar upside down, leaving fencing as one of the poorest parents with only one official competition - in Kazan - in a year and a half. Bad luck, she did not really smile at a Coraline Vitalis dominated from her entry into the running by the Estonian swordsman Irina Embrich (12-15). So much so that the Frenchwoman has not won a match in individual competition since… January 10, 2020 and a World Cup stage in Cuba. Not ideal for confidence, of course.
However, this does not prevent the fencer trained at the Chevalier de Saint-George du Gosier club from being "
impatient to be able to experience (s) the first Games." I managed the long waiting period rather well, especially since when everything stopped, I was not particularly in good shape. Suddenly, I saw in this forced break the opportunity to get back into it and work on my weak points.
»9th in the world and the only French representative for her weapon, the 26-year-old Guadeloupe refuses to put excessive pressure on herself. "
I have no pressure.
For me, it's a pleasure to be here.
I worked hard for it.
Obviously, getting on the podium would give more relief to all the work done upstream.
But if not, I will continue to work.
"
To read also: The program of the day
Regarding the lack of competition - and victories concerning it - Vitalis nevertheless wants to be confident about the quality of the work that it has provided. “
I'm not moving in the dark in the sense that I work very hard with my two coaches and my partners. My lines of work had been well defined for these Games. Obviously, it would have been better to validate at least part of this work in competition, but that does not prevent me from being in Tokyo determined, knowing that I worked hard to be ready on D-Day.
"A determination that has never left her since she discovered fencing at the age of 8, and which she really needed when she decided to leave her Guadeloupe for the metropolis and the club of Levallois.
A change of scenery guaranteed for this young teenager of around fifteen.
As this will be my first Games, I will take what comes.
Coraline Vitalis
But very quickly, her choice paid off with a European bronze medal among the cadets (2011), before the supreme consecration of a world title among the juniors in 2015. Regularly, therefore, she will have been able to climb the ranks. Until he realized his dream of participating in the Olympic Games. Or rather "
part
" of her dream, "
the other being to win a medal there
", she specifies. And too bad if she saw her first Games in the very gloomy context of a closed door. "
I did not experience the euphoria of Rio, so I have no reference. As this will be my first Games, I will take what comes. And then to be honest, we can't say that fencing is the discipline that draws the most public and atmosphere. So for me the closed door will not change anything from a sporting point of view. It's just a shame that for such an event the public is absent but that's how it is, we will have to deal with it.
»And the Frenchwoman concludes, with a smile. “
At the beginning, to better prepare for this experience, I had started to consult some of my partners so that they could tell me about their experiences at the Games. But as they all started by talking to me about the atmosphere, the audience, I stopped because it was no longer useful.
"
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