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Kevin Mayer: “Asking an athlete to boycott an event for which he has been preparing for years is very hard”

At 30, Kevin Mayer will aim for gold at the Paris Olympics in 2024. Twelve years after his first Olympic participation, the decathlete, world record holder and world champion in Eugene (United States) on July 24, will expresses on the difficulties of tricolor athletics, on the role of the athlete and on the place of sport in France.

You won a second title of world champion in Eugene, only medal of the Blues. But, collectively, French athletics is struggling to get out of the doldrums. What do you think ?

I have no influence on the results of others. I love the state of mind in the France team, and when we say that there are problems other than the results, I don’t see them. I reread press articles published before the 2003 Paris Worlds [8 médailles, dont 3 en or], it was a disaster. To vibrate in good times, you also need bad ones. If we are always on top, could we experience exploits? Good results would only be normality.

As they are in American athletics?

We are not American athletics, but we are not the American sports system either. We do not push children to have the spirit of winning. They are encouraged, for example, to play sports for their health. I’m not against it, but hoping for medals with this state of mind is complicated. When do we teach them the fighting spirit and the desire to surpass themselves in order to win medals?

The French Athletics Federation has gone through a governance crisis. In addition, Renaud Lavillenie told the “World” that, in his opinion, it was already too late to form an excellent generation for 2024. Do you share this observation?

I agree, but there are problems everywhere. Just look at what is happening at the moment at the French Football Federation. As soon as there are people with egos, there are conflicts. We pay attention to problems when there are good results. And when bad things happen, they get amplified. The athlete’s performance depends on his preparation and his ability to surround himself well. The role of the federation is much more secondary, for me, than in a team sport.

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Yet some say that without proper federal functioning, athletes cannot shine.

If everyone is kind to each other, I think that can create a mindset that helps individual performance. When I see my friends in the stands when they have the competition the next day, it transcends me. And they are still there. The atmosphere between athletes is good.

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