the challenge of the next generation for French rowing

“Bravo, our future will be with you.” In the “mixed zone”, where athletes come to meet the media after their events, Nathalie Benoît hugs Alexis Sanchez and thanks him at length for “thisThis passion of youth that[elle n’a] plus ».

However, it was indeed the Marseillaise that achieved a stunning end to the race on the Vaires-sur-Marne (Seine-et-Marne) waters on Sunday 1^is September, concluded with a bronze medal in the women’s single sculls final (PR1) – his third at the Games after silver in London in 2012 and bronze in Tokyo in 2021 – while the 26-year-old Frenchman only placed fifth in his men’s single sculls final (PR1).

At 44, the basketball enthusiast with multiple sclerosis switched to rowing because she was looking for “a sport where [elle ne passerait] no wheelchair to wheelchair, an outdoor sport, both very physical and very technical”, plans to end his international career.

« Rowing is a demanding sport, I wouldn’t be able to do three training sessions a day anymore.”, confides the school teacher who will, in a few days, take up a position as disability project manager for Aix-Marseille University, without ruling out contributing to a new project for the French team, in which she could bring her experience.

All in control

“We need new talent and there aren’t many in our discipline, confirms Perle Bouge, the other Frenchwoman experienced in the Paralympics (four participations and two medals, silver in London and bronze in Rio in 2016), ranked fifth on Sunday in the PR2 mixed pair alongside Benjamin Daviet. My philosophy as a high-level athlete is to be able to pass on and support the new generation.”

This collective experience, “Little tips” distilled by Nathalie Benoît, who stayed in the Olympic village in the same apartment as Alexis Sanchez and three other French rowers, are precious for the single scull finalist, who discovered rowing in 2020 and has only one year in the French team: “I’m in the A final this time, but my plan is to get a medal in Los Angeles. With four more years, training even harder, I’m going to do everything I can to achieve that.”

The AS L’Avi sourire licensee, in Marseille, will watch his race, calmly, to extract some lessons from it. Perhaps he will also analyze that, very controlled, of Nathalie Benoît. The athlete, who admits to brooding and somatizing as soon as it is a question of timed events and tests all possible techniques to fight against the insomnia that pollutes his nights of competition, on the contrary offers a very serene face on the water.

Carried by the public chanting her name from the stands of the nautical stadium, she managed her race perfectly. « I knew that I wouldn’t start in front, that I would have to catch up with competitors, she describes. In the 1000m, I was good and I tried to put a little more intensity, I had to hold on after that.”

“When I’m in trouble, I’m not in a bubble, she explains. On the contrary, I take everything around, I heard the shouts, I heard the Ukrainian woman blowing, saying to myself: “As long as you hear her, she is not far from you.” A Ukrainian boat that she managed to lose at the end of the race, then charging towards the Norwegian Birgit Skarstein who kept second place, behind the Israeli Moran Samuel.

Different generations on board

“On race mornings, we find ways to distract her, but once she’s on the water, she’s a warrior.”believes Charles Delval, the team leader of the French para rowing team, satisfied with the results of the Blues: five boats in the final and two medals, bronze in the women’s single sculls and in the PR3 mixed coxed four (composed of Emilie Acquistapace, Grégoire Bireau, Margot Boulet, Candyce Chafa and Rémy Taranto), as many as at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021.

“With these medals, I hope we send a message to all those who want to try Paralympic sport. In fact, we will offer a one-week course in December so that they can come to Vaires-sur-Marne to try out activities around our sport.” The opportunity also to continue the search for future talents. “Detection is a major issue because, to succeed at the top level, you have to start from the bottom”, continues Charles Delval. However, clubs are not always equipped for para rowing, which requires heavy investment.

The team leader relies on the “la relève” system set up by the French Paralympic Sports Committee (CPSF) to identify individuals aged 16 to 35 who have performance potential. Launched by a major national communication campaign in 2019, the system is now being rolled out on a regional scale.

Within or outside the framework of the CPSF, succession is a constant imperative, also assures the national technical director Sébastien Vieilledent. “Our strategy was to continue detection until February 2024”argues the national technical director, who cites as an example the recent arrival of Candyce Chafa, 18, in the mixed coxed four. “I started rowing this boat in February”says the young woman, whose goal is now to pass her baccalaureate.

“Having different generations on board is necessary. It brings freshness and densitybelieves Margot Boulet, for whom competition for places is proving effective. We see it with the British. They have a competition to get on the boat, but once on board, they just have to go to international competitions.” In Vaires-sur-Marne, the United Kingdom rose to the top of the nations’ rankings, with a total of three gold medals and one silver.