Became one of the very rare French athletes double world champion in Eugene (Oregon) on Sunday, the decathlete Kevin Mayer, also double Olympic silver medalist, "would like one day to be a legend" of the tricolor sport of the caliber "of the Riner, Zidane , Fourcade”.
Tell us about the emotion you felt on the podium...
Kevin Mayer:
"It's been a really tough year.
After the Games (in Tokyo last summer), I quickly solved my back (problem), and I said to myself + I can go back +.
From there, my two Achilles tendons didn't let go for seven months.
I still feel them but I knew how to manage them, I knew how to find the answers, after seven months, to finally get back to racing and be present today.
Frankly it was unexpected.
When you are so up against the wall, when in two months you do everything you need to do, despite that you are not confident, and during the competition you get there... The rising slope of emotions that I just got into my head... I'm first, it's not like last year, it was an Olympic medal (in silver), I had saved the furniture,
but here, I am world champion.
For the second time.
I've always admired legends in France, the Teddy Riner, Zinedine Zidane, Martin Fourcade... I don't put myself on an equal footing with them at all, but I would like to be a legend one day, and that go through it!”
Kevin Mayer JIM WATSON / AFP
Read alsoWorld Athletics Championships: Frenchman Kevin Mayer crowned decathlon world champion for the second time
You mentioned "a boulevard to be world champion" after the injury of the reigning Olympic champion, Canadian Damian Warner, on Saturday evening. Were you that confident halfway through?
“Frankly, I told you yesterday (Saturday), but I didn't really believe it.
I had no landmarks.
I was confident without being.
At each event, it was a huge pressure because I had only two months of preparation, quite simply.
You don't prepare a decathlon like that.
I hadn't raced for three months before I started racing again.
I had not competed.
For each event that I hadn't prepared, like the 400m, the height - I hadn't jumped since February - it was a huge pressure.
Frankly, I was in an abyss.
But each time I started, the confidence came back, I did what I knew how to do.
It's really a huge pride to succeed in these conditions.
At the pole, I almost made zero at 5 m,
I couldn't believe it on the third try... What I really liked was that I remobilized myself.
I did twelve tests: in a decathlon competition, it is almost never seen.
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What does it mean to you to be on the first step again?
"I don't know if my ego is that big, because I don't care about doubling, tripling... I see each competition as a condition of my happiness, because I know I love training , I love being ready for a championship and I love expressing myself in the championship.
I know that when I win medals, after that I'm on cloud nine for a thousand years.
I just give myself the means to relive this incredible happiness.
At the height yesterday (Saturday), I said to myself: + But why am I doing decathlon? + I was so afraid of doing zero at 1.93 m, I was so not lucid... It was not easy, but the harder it is, the more incredible the emotional lift when you have a gold medal.
This emotional lift, this pleasure now, is all you can hope for in life.
I am aware of the chance I have and I can assure you that I take advantage of it every day.
Because I'm thirty years old and it won't last forever either, even if I hope to have a good longevity.
Kevin Mayer BRIAN SNYDER / REUTERS
What do you aspire to in the months and years to come?
“I always want to have fun.
Today, in training, I enjoy myself even when I'm injured.
I always have this desire to progress, to improve myself every day, it's something that I like.
I never get bored, I love it.
Even injured, I'm never depressed.
