The collective spirit to get back up after defeat and win the medal
In addition to the symbiosis with the public, the fencers retain the collective spirit that reigned during these Olympic Games, and the pleasure of sharing these moments together.
“It’s a group that I’ve been training with for a long time, I’ve known my teammates for many years now, we’ve had a lot of victories and defeats together,” confides Maximilien Chastanet.
“Being able to share these moments, these are bonds that we will keep for life and that we will never forget. I'm really happy to have been able to share this with them, especially since they are great people,” he continues.
Sébastien Patrice also remembers how far he has come with his saber team before winning the medal.
“Looking back, what I am most proud of and what was the most beautiful and exciting to experience was the whole journey. All the qualification, all the moments of doubt, the moments of joy, of failure,” he explains.
The 24-year-old swordsman also had the privilege of sharing these moments with his brother Jean-Philippealso a member of the team which won the bronze medal against the Islamic Republic of Iran (45-25).
“When you're an Olympic medalist, you see your family in the stands… You turn around and you look at the path, you say to your brother: 'look what we did'. And that’s a real treat. Because the medal, yes, it's a consecration, it's the consequence, but what's really beautiful is really everything we did. »
Maxime Pauty and the foil team experienced the bronze medal match “really like a final” to surpass themselves.
“Often, people don't agree, but I prefer a bronze medal to a silver medal, since for me there is champion and medalist. So for me, silver and bronze are the same, except that there is one where you end with a victory and the other with a defeat,” analyzes the 31-year-old foil fencer.
“Finding with a victory, in front of the French public, but also with the fear of leaving empty-handed, it was a great emotion, a great medal. Of course I would have preferred us to be Olympic champions, but we took this bronze medal and we are proud of ourselves,” he insists.
