“I knew it was a mistake”

VIDEO – On the occasion of the broadcast of his documentary entitled Laura! Laura! Laura! on January 19 on Canal +, Laure Manaudou was invited on the set of the show As an aside this Thursday, January 16. The former swimmer then confided in her former trainer Philippe Lucas.

From 2002 to 2007, Philippe Lucas helped bring Laure Manaudou to the top of the podium. For five years, the emblematic duo of French swimming worked hard. A paying job since the former swimmer won numerous medals including a gold one from the Athens Olympic Games in 2004. Guest on the set of the show As an aside this Thursday, January 16, on the occasion of the broadcast of his documentary entitled Laura! Laura! Laura!on January 19 on Canal +, Laure Manaudou spoke about her former coach. She notably reversed her decision to no longer train with him, preferring to join her boyfriend at the time in Italy, Luca Marin. “I knew it was a mistake but at the same time, I had made my choice and from the moment that choice was made, I couldn't go back even if I wanted to come back a few weeks later”, she said. Before continuing: “Pride told me: 'no you can't go back if only out of respect for what you did'.”

She also explained that she had decided to leave because she no longer wanted to work with Philippe Lucas. “It had become too much work”, she confided. Before specifying: “It turned out that I was with that person at that time and it was easy to leave.” Hoping to be able to rely on the skills she had acquired while training with the man she considers her second dad, she was still aware “to go straight into the wall”. When she left, the ex-partner of Jérémy Frérot stressed that she had not had any exchanges with Philippe Lucas, explaining that she had “afraid to face it” because she knew he was going to hold her back. Looking back, Laure Manaudou expressed some regrets regarding her choice. “The duo we formed with Philippe was certainly explosive, but with a lot of tenderness, work and affectionshe assured. I know very well that if I had continued training with Philippe at least until Beijing in 2008 I would have been unbeatable. Today, my career ended early.” The former swimmer still qualified by declaring: “But it's also because I was looking for happiness elsewhere and swimming no longer brought it to me as much as before.”

Laure Manaudou looks back on the revelation of her intimate photos

During his passage in As an asideLaure Manaudou also spoke, in complete transparency, about the disclosure of her intimate photographs in 2017, by one of her former companions. “I was devastated because I knew the photos were going to come out“, she first said, deploring, at the same time, the fact that these photos were revealed during her participation in the European short course championships. It must be said that when these photos were revealed, she was not only focused on her competition but she was also going through a “reconstruction period“personal. The fact that her big brother accompanied her to this competition then put her more at odds.”There, yes, I want to hide in a hole and never come out because inevitably, there is a lot of shame and where I say to myself: 'At what point will I be able to come out free?'“, she remembered, still embarrassed by this story.