## 33 Athletics

Last week, the European Athletics Championships took place in Birmingham. I love watching athletics, especially the events I practised in my youth: the 110 metre hurdles, high jump, triple jump and discus. I was not a champion but the best high jumper and triple jumper at my high school, and even the best of my French Department for High Jump, in the Minimes Category (14-15 years old), and 2nd in 100 h hurdles. But I stopped training and never competed again. Because I knew what were my limits. I had very good jumping technique, for instance, but considering my height, my explosive power wasn't all that extraordinary.

So I watched all the events I know well. My highest jump was only 1,60m at 15 years. But I have always missed the sensations. Flying over the bar is an extraordinary sensation—like a drug, too. And when you are jumping just 1 cm over the hurdles, it's fabulous. I had difficulties with Hurdles when I switched to Minimes. It took time and just during the departmental championship, I was going to be eliminated and had a last chance. Suddenly, everything clicked: I was jumping at the right cadence, with the right number of steps, and just the right amount of effort. And in the final, I was 2nd after an other guy in front of me fell. I also ran the 4x80m relays and I love watching that, the challenge of the baton exchange within the zone at the right speed.

So, I was very happy during one week. The men and women High Jump competitions were awesome ! Giancarlo Tamberi is the exact opposite of my behavior during a competition, ha ha. I was more like the Ukrainian Doroshchuk, 2nd. I remember all the events of my departemental championship too. I won on the number of attempts because I always started at a height below my personal best—one I had perfectly mastered—since my joints were already vulnerable. The runner-up was a good friend of mine, and we helped each other out, even though we belonged to different clubs. That’s often how it is within the brotherhood of a specific event—especially in the jumps. But for the regional championship, it was raining and I was anxious about my footing on the slippery surface, even with spikes. I was far off my personal best that day, and I helped my competitor make it to the podium.

So I understand very well the different feelings of the athletes. I see exactly when a jumper doesn't believe in him/herself during the preparation of the jump. You can see it sometimes in the eyes and in the steps. I’ve never been injured, but I know I would have been if I had pushed harder in training. I didn’t want to reach that point and lose the sense of enjoyment. And today, my body is old and I know it could be worse. I was once again fascinated by the triple jumpers. A very difficult event where you must be a fast runner, a good jumper but with a strong technique to bounce back without losing speed. The Women long jump was also fantastic with only 2cm betwen the 1st and the 3rd. I was not so good at long jump because of my speed. I was good in the event with technicity like hurdles to jump, triple jump...and not so bad in Discus, considering my muscles, ha ha. That's why my coach told me I could have down the equivalent of a Decathlon. But I couldn't have been good during 10 events, because of th
e weakness of my body. Many good athletes were injured in Decathlon this year. 

The world championship will take place in Beijing at the end of the year. It won't be easy to watch but I'll try. Because, in a kind of way, it's also a time travel in my youth.

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