Favorite: the real hero of Swiss sport is him

Since November 12, a man who left Lima has been rowing alone, day and night, on the Pacific Ocean towards Bali, Indonesia, which he hopes to reach in eight months, perhaps before following the currents, after a stopover in the Marquesas (Hiva Oa), in Polynesia. This man is Louis Margot, a 32-year-old Vaudois who left the quays of Morges in the fall of 2023 to travel around the world using human power and alone.

Perhaps you have already heard, seen or read his name somewhere, perhaps not… One fact stands out: what he is currently accomplishing through the Human Impulse project that he has himself initiated is completely monstrous, beyond comprehension. To complete his 50,000 km journey using only the strength of his arms and legs, the adventurer chose to alternate between cycling and rowing. While the record recorded with Guinness is 5 years and 11 days, the Vaudois hopes to lower it to less than 3 years.

Before casting off in Peru to begin his 4th stage, by far the longest and most dangerous, he had already covered 2,300 km of asphalt to Portugal before tackling the Atlantic crossing to Martinique, followed by that of the Caribbean Sea. It was then almost 4000 km on the steep roads of Colombia, Ecuador and Peru.

Having left the day after the start of the Vendée Globe, Louis Margot was not entitled to the hundreds of thousands of people who came to admire the sailors in Les Sables-d’Olonne. Apart from the friendly presence of a few close friends, he moved away from the pontoon in anonymity, alone in front of himself. Alone facing the fear of a challenge that is beyond him. Moving away from our world, so ugly and so uncertain, to enter his own, far from the human hubbub and the murderous madness of its inhabitants.

Row, row, row… On Souchon’s song, do you have to be a little crazy to do all that? No doubt enough to board… Badadia, the name of his boat registered VD 32466.

If the former world junior rowing champion certainly wanted it (no one forced him to), does this nevertheless call into question the scope of the phenomenal feat he is currently achieving? Since the day we met him in the parental lounge, we almost instantly elevated him to the rank of national hero, but it can also become yours.

At a time when so many athletes lament, get annoyed about everything, what do they really do, yes, what do they achieve on a daily basis, all these professionals, compared to the magnitude of such a challenge? Aside from treating their ego, it’s a pittance in comparison.

Yes, the galley slave that he is (we) makes us dream of by proxy. Thanks to him, we leave our ordinary lives, tidy because they lack follies, we escape to the point of starting to row alongside him. At last count, he had covered 664 km in 13 days, the equivalent of 3.6% of his Pacific crossing; he therefore had 18,336 km to go. Before tackling the final stage: 16,000 km by bike which will bring him back to the banks of Lake Geneva.

So we bow as much as we want, a little, a lot, passionately, etc. Because it sprinkles our mundane existences with small, simple joys that change them – and us.

This extreme man deserves respect without borders or limits.