Romain, how are you approaching these European Championships in Turkey?
Romain Cannone:
I want to keep this mentality I've had all season.
I want to keep the same confidence, even if I know that I can be beaten at any time.
I keep it in mind, but I also have to be sure of my qualities.
I have worked very hard this year with the new staff.
It brought me a lot on a personal level.
And I want to keep the same rhythm.
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After your Olympic title in Tokyo a year ago, everyone was wondering if you were going to succeed in confirming it. Which is the case with your World Cup victory in Heidenheim and your place as world number 1. Are you still surfing on the euphoria of these Games?
The Tokyo effect, it exists especially among you, the journalists (laughs).
Now, in terms of fencing, I don't know if we can really talk about euphoria.
There is momentum, that's for sure.
But from my point of view, I consider myself much more zen now.
If only in my life, finishing my studies and starting a job (at EDF).
It's stressful, but that's life.
I find that I have gained in maturity and I better approach the problems that may arise for me, or stress.
I never approach a competition telling myself that I am an Olympic champion and therefore deserve to win it.
Romain Cannone
Speaking of stress, how did you deal with your new status as an Olympic champion?
At the beginning of the year, I had a little trouble.
Of course, a lot of things have changed for me.
When I arrive at a national competition, everyone asks me for an autograph and since I can't say no, it's not easy to stay in my bubble.
All the solicitations can easily distract you.
But I find that as I go along, I manage it better and better.
Does this mean that you have digested, so to speak, your new status?
Yes, we can say that.
I feel like I put the right things in place to achieve this.
I never approach a competition telling myself that I am an Olympic champion and therefore deserve to win it.
In epee, anyone can beat anyone.
If you forget this, you expose yourself to big disappointments honestly…
After being an Olympic champion, we would tend to say to ourselves that you shouldn't touch anything in your fencing and that you have found the right formula…
Except that you have to constantly question yourself, evolve.
Be careful, I'm not going to take up foil tomorrow (laughs).
But in the way of approaching a match, you should never become predictable, especially technically.
I will not question the nature of my fencing.
I'm going to keep the strokes that I like, my way of doing it, but always adding variations to make it stronger, to hide other strokes.
It is continuous learning.
Has the look of your opponents changed?
Yes it's clear.
But there are two aspects.
There are those who dream of beating the Olympic champion and on the other hand, others who can be intimidated, which can help me.
Some may feel swept up in the thought of competing not against me, but against what my title means to them.
I have to manage both.
What has also changed is that I feel more respect in the eyes of others.
Respect has always been there in fencing, as in judo for example.
Simply, today, I feel that there are more people who just want to talk fencing with me.
It's funny to see some opponents, who are the same age as me, ask me for advice.
It flatters me, even though I'm not someone with a big ego because I know it doesn't.
is not what will make me win.
And I love talking about fencing.
This is new.
Before my title, nobody wanted to talk about it with me (laughs).
It's important to show a company that a top athlete can carry out a double project.
It's not just in the United States that this works.
Romain Cannone
Since the beginning of the year, you have also become a management controller at EDF. How detached are you?
I signed a professional integration contract which allows athletes to work part-time but to be paid full-time with the support of the National Sports Agency.
What is advantageous for a company is to have an athlete who has a certain image and to be able to train him.
As far as I am concerned, I work two mornings in the company, from 9am to 12.15pm, before training in the afternoon.
And the other three days, the same except that I'm telecommuting.
I work about fifteen hours, which brings me a certain balance.
Especially since I know that there will necessarily be an after-fencing for me.
It helps me manage my emotions today, it gives me stability and it also contributes to this new maturity that I was talking about before.
I
approaches the competition differently.
And then it's important to show a company that a high-level athlete can carry out a double project.
It's not just in the United States that this works.
Listening to you, we have the feeling that this title in Tokyo above all offered you a balance, a stability that you didn't necessarily have before…
Yes.
Just after Tokyo, I experienced a strong period of instability because everything was new for me, with many events, requests... But in the stress that this generated, it allowed me to evolve, to grow .
Now I know how to say no, I know how to set my priorities.
So not everything was a good balance.
It was more like a roller coaster at one point (smile).
But over time, experience, it gave me stability.
On the sporting level, this summer you can tick the last two boxes that are missing from your list, namely a European title and a world title. That in barely a year…
After that, I'm going to have to find other places (smile).
More seriously, succeeding in ticking these two boxes looks very complicated.
It is a challenge as beautiful as it is difficult.
But to have already succeeded in reaching the place of world number 1, it really did something to me and I am very proud of it.
It's the reward of a season, it demonstrates a regular performance.
While a world or European title is the truth of a day, of a competition.
