Yannick, how do you feel, physically and morally, when approaching these European Championships?
Yannick Borel:
Physically, I have a little sore in my thigh but that's fine, I treat it well every day and that's not going to slow me down.
Morally, it's fine, I train well and outside, everything is fine.
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After Tokyo and your failure at the Olympics, you had a very hard time. Is this totally behind you today?
The scar is still raw.
But we must move forward.
You should never stay on the ground in your corner.
It's not my mentality.
I asked myself the question, after these Games, whether I was hanging up or not.
But I felt that I could not stay on such a failure.
I would have regretted it.
So I got back in the saddle and since then it's been fine.
With in particular two victories in the World Cup in Doha and Cairo…
To win again showed me that I still had that in me, that I did not stop winning in 2018 and 2019 but that I was still able.
These two victories were very important for me, for my confidence, to move forward and also vis-à-vis the new staff led by Hugues (Obry) and Gauthier (Grumier).
Now there is also Romain (Cannone) who is the reigning Olympic champion, so I knew that the competition and competitiveness were going to be very strong.
If I couldn't answer it internally, within the France group, then how could I have done it on D-Day at the World and European Championships.
It's not in my character to be jealous.
I also want to be an Olympic champion one day, but it has to be earned.
Yannick Borel
Did this Olympic title for Romain Cannone do you any good by removing the pressure of the French leader? And has this title changed the balance within the France collective?
Romain is a very endearing person, he is friends with everyone and our group lives really well.
It's not just a formula.
Romain already had his place there well before the Games and it was seen in Tokyo when everyone got behind him.
Some even asked me how I had done to encourage him when I had just lost in individual.
It seemed completely normal to me.
He's my teammate, he was having a great day and I was the first happy for him that he won this title.
It's not in my character to be jealous.
I also want to be an Olympic champion one day, but it has to be earned.
However, he says he does not feel like a leader. So you kept that role...
If it has to, I have no problem with that.
But today, clearly, the leader of our group is Hugues.
He is the one who makes the decisions and it does us good to be able to rely on him, because we know that we can have full confidence in his choices.
We saw what he managed to do during his experience in China, where he took the Chinese men's team to the foot of the Olympic podium when they started from afar.
This is not nothing, and it demonstrates the quality of his work.
So, with us, he can achieve even better things given our level of performance.
We miss winning in teams and it's up to us to show that our very good individual results can also materialize in teams.
Everyone thinks we can achieve great performances.
And then with Hugues, anyway, there is only one watchword: win.
Often, when you lose, he points it out to you, he stings you in the right place.
You, his return did you good morally…
Yes, clearly.
I wanted to relearn a lot of things.
I was in this process, very open to what they could bring me, Hugues and Gauthier.
So even with a track record like yours, you continue to learn and progress…
Always, otherwise you have to stop.
I am still discovering things that I am able to do, but that I did not do before.
I also gain confidence in other registers of my game.
Was it worth going to training every day and hurting myself if I was no longer at the level?
Yannick Borel
You were talking about your thinking about whether to continue or stop. Did the Paris 2024 dimension also play a role?
Yes of course.
Paris 2024 is the day after tomorrow in a way.
In April 2023 will begin the Olympic qualification, so it is in ten months.
And once you're in, you're already at the Games.
The question I was asking myself after Tokyo was, having lost in the first round against a 20-year-old, if I was still in the game?
Was it worth going to training every day and hurting myself if I was no longer at the level?
I gave myself the opportunity this season to see if I still was, and finally I think I still am.
Now we have to confirm.
On the road to Paris, how important are these European Championships, then the World Championship which will follow in July?
Personally, as I am at the end of my career, each season and each major competition will be very precious to me.
So as of this summer I have to somehow make a profit.
I will try not to have any regrets.
If I stop after Paris, I want to have given my maximum.
The day I look back, I want to be proud of my journey.
Even if everything will not have been perfect of course.
Does the fact that these two competitions follow one another so quickly minimize the impact of European competition?
It's an important meeting but it's true that the world event just behind reduces the impact a little.
You can be individual European champion in June but if in July, at the world championships, you go out in the first round, it's complicated... We will always tell you: European champion, that's good, but you weren't expected there.
I experienced that.
In 2016, I was European champion but behind, I finished 5th at the Games, so no medal.
Worse in 2017, I am again European champion before leaving in the 1st round at the World Championships.
And in 2018, I won both and saw the impact of a world title.
It was only then that my three consecutive European titles were highlighted.
The world title gives a dimension to everything else.
Now, in the mind of a fencer, everyone wants to shine, including at the European Championships which are a very dense, very tough competition.
When you look at the World Top 16, you must have 9 or 10 Europeans (ten exactly).
That says it all, and I have a lot of respect for this Championship.
