A huge sigh of relief. This is what Kevin Mayer pushed on June 11, when he qualified for the 2024 Olympic Games (July 26 – August 11) thanks to his successful decathlon at the European Athletics Championships. . At the microphone of RMC Sport this Thursday, June 27, the 32-year-old athlete recounted his deliverance.
“The biggest decompression of my life”
Kevin Mayer notably returned to a fateful moment, the most important in recent years for him: his last attempt at 5 meters in the pole vault competition. In the event of another failure, the Frenchman would have had to achieve his Olympic minimums during the rare decathlons remaining before the Olympics. But Mayer did not tremble at the key moment and was able to let his joy burst forth.
« I had the biggest decompression of my life when I passed that bar and knew I was qualified (for the Olympics). It was a year of desire to qualify that suddenly came to an end. I have always been confident, but the expectation of the general public was very difficult to manage”he told RMC Sport.
The one who saw these European Championships as his “ last chance » to qualify, was he afraid of not playing in the Olympics in Paris? The two-time world champion admitted yes. “ Fifteen days after my withdrawal from the San Diego decathlon on March 22, I strained my hamstring. It was the first time I told myself that maybe I wasn’t going to make the Olympics. Hence the decompression when I completed my pole vault in Rome: I had come to terms with the idea that I was perhaps not going to go to the Olympics. It’s incredible now to tell myself that I will be at the Stade de France. »
READ ALSO. PORTRAIT. “A real plus for both of us”: Delphine Jariel is Kevin Mayer’s physiotherapist and partner
“Only” fifth in the European Championships, Kevin Mayer is now looking ahead to the Olympic Games in a month, where he will aim for the title despite competition that is stronger than ever. I feel pretty good, I can’t wait to be at the Stade de France. I feel like I have the body to do what it takes, I know that I have great potential. But you have to perform on the big day. And there will be a crazy level. I think we’ll need 8,700 points to get on the podium (he scored 8,476 points at the European Championships and his world record is 9,126 points, Editor’s note).
