His crossing of the mixed zone is constantly interrupted by hugs, requests for selfies or just kind words from his rivals.
Johan Clarey can't part with his smug smile.
At 41, Johan Clarey entered the legend of his sport on Monday with his silver medal acquired on the descent of the Beijing Olympics, becoming the oldest Olympic medalist in the history of alpine skiing.
A last hug to the speed coach Xavier Fournier, and here is the "grandpa" of the Blues who comes to tell his day of glory.
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How do you feel after this silver medal?
JOHAN CLAREY.
I find it hard to realize, I'm not hiding it from you.
I didn't have time, it will take a few hours for it to go down.
If someone had told me that this morning, I wouldn't have believed it.
I built my season as I wanted, I got stronger in January, I'm in good shape in February.
I'm very happy with the way I arrived at the Olympics, I evacuated all the negative that I could.
It's just incredible, it's the best day of my career, it's the apotheosis.
This medal was my goal, everything went like a dream.
Who are you thinking of right now?
I think of David (Editor's note: Poisson, descender of the French team who died in an accident in training in 2017), a lot (Editor's note: moved, he takes a break).
I am also thinking of my family and my wife, it is thanks to them and their support that I am here.
Without that, I would never have continued beyond 35 years.
They were patient with me.
Can you describe your race to us?
This morning, I felt exhausted when I got up, Sunday and the week tired me. Casually at 41, I'm starting to "toncher" in terms of recovery. And then 5 minutes from the start, I felt great, very focused, I managed to put on everything I needed, I said to myself “man, these are your last Games, hit the track. » I felt that I was having a good race, luckily there was not too much wind. I see "2" at the bottom, it's fantastic, I'm only ten hundredths from the gold, but the silver I take. I'm behind Beat Feuz, he's been the best downhiller for five years. He deprived me of a victory in Kitzbühel and an Olympic title, there is also Mayer, double Olympic champion behind. It's a nice podium. I've worked my whole life for this.A world medal (2nd in the super-G in 2019) and an Olympic, it's beautiful.
When did you know that the podium acquired?
After the passage of 30 runners.
The race was regular, there were no incredible things with the wind.
I changed my equipment after training where I had used the edges, then I took this year's skis.
I have never used them in racing.
My technician gave me confidence.
We had a bit of a tough season with our teammates at speed, but here we are, we have a medal.
You always have to hang on, believe in it.
It was perhaps me who believed in it the most.
Now I'm going to take advantage of my medal, and go support my friends and girlfriends.
Instead of having a collection of pins, I have a medal, it's cool.
Do you think you will continue your career?
I do not know.
Some mornings, with the stress, it's hard, there are very few good race days.
We will discuss it.