There are few careers as incredible as that of Laure Manaudou. Having become a true icon at just 17 years old, after winning her very first Olympic title at the Athens Olympics in August 2004, the swimmer coached by Philippe Lucas has experienced a meteoric rise. An extraordinary journey marked by numerous setbacks recounted in the documentary Laura, Laura, Laura! broadcast Sunday January 19, 2025 on Canal +.
After winning all the titles, Laure Manaudou experienced a descent into hell in her career. During the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008, the performances were no longer there, although the queen of the pools had already come a long way. After leaving to live in Italy to follow her companion at the time Luca Marin from whom she would finally separate and having experienced at the same time a breakup with her trainer Philippe Lucas, she returned to France but without the man who helped her break through. .. Laure Manaudou went through many delicate periods which led her to no longer be up to par in 2008. At that time, she decided to put her career on hold and move away. She needs it and knows that it is essential for her to take a step back, a lot of step back, in the face of media pressure. His mental health is threatened…
Laure Manaudou complexed for the first time in her life with her pregnancy
Then in a relationship with Frédérick Bousquet, also a professional swimmer, she went to live in the United States with him, in Auburn, Alabama. She was then 22 years old. Swimming in parentheses, Laure Manaudou devotes herself entirely to her life as a woman and becomes pregnant. “We had gone to the United States with Fred, I needed to get away from France. It was the first time since 2004 where I could walk peacefully in the street without being recognized.“, first explains Laure Manaudou in Laura, Laura, Laura! “I went from 11 workouts per week to 0 and as a result I gained 23 kilos for my pregnancy“, she continues, recalling the period during which she was pregnant with her eldest daughter Manon, now aged 14, soon to be 15. “It wasn't easy to accept this body at that time since I've never been self-conscious in my life. Seeing his body changed is a little disturbing. And we say to ourselves, why did I gain 23 kilos, why did I think it was easy. But no, it will come back in two months and in fact no“, testifies Laure Manaudou.
Laure Manaudou always wanted to be a mother, she has 3 children
-Manon finally shows up on April 2, 2010, a Friday evening, just before midnight. Laure Manaudou was then 23 years old. It was in France that she and Frédérick Bousquet chose to welcome their first child. The Sunday Journal revealed at the time that Laure Manaudou had given birth at the Bouchard clinic in Marseille. “I became a mother at 23. For me it has always been in my goals, in my life choices“, confides the champion in Laura, Laura, Laura!while images of Manon jumping into a swimming pool are broadcast at the same time. “It is also the love of a child which is very natural and without expectations. Even if it's thankless sometimes, there is no manipulation, there can be no disappointment“, she continues while images of her two boys, whom she subsequently had with the singer Jérémy Frérot (with whom she married in 2018 in the Landes and from whom she is separated today) are shown.
Podium with Manon at the European Championships and end of career
But swimming eventually comes back into his life. With her little brother Florent Manaudou, also a high-level swimmer, she has a dream: that they participate in the Olympic Games together. Laure Manaudou then returns to the swimming pools, returning to training a few months after giving birth to Manon. A little more than two years after announcing that she was stopping swimming, the most successful swimmer in history is returning to competition. Florent Manaudou won his first gold medal at the London Olympic Games in 2012, Laure Manaudou fell into his arms, in tears. Poignant images. In November 2012, she became European champion again, in the 50m backstroke. A podium celebrated with her daughter Manon who was a little over two years old at the time, and the end of her career, this time definitive.
Living in the Arcachon basin for several years with her 3 children, a region where she feels good and which she would not leave for anything in the world, Laure Manaudou is today a fully fulfilled woman. After going through numerous trials, sporting and personal (she lost a child with Frédérick Bousquet after the birth of Manon), the champion fully tastes happiness. And for those who wonder if she is happy in love, Mouloud Achour asked her the question in his show Clique on Canal +: “And love, everything is going very well today.“She won't say more about it…
