Enzo, will this Mazars Challenge International de Paris (CIP) be a repetition, on a small scale, of the next Games in Paris for you? Enzo Lefort: In the head, yes. Afterwards, for the Games, we will really have three months to prepare. This weekend, it is just a necessary step for qualification for the Olympics. We have been training like crazy since September and we had a little break over the holidays, but all of that is out of proportion to the preparation we will have for the Games. This CIP will be very important, it will have the value of a mini-rehearsal because there are quite a few media requests upstream, there are our families and our loved ones in the stands, there will be the expectation of the French public… But this It’s still not comparable to what awaits us at the Games.
Do you regret that your sport only benefits from real media coverage every four years during the Games? No, not necessarily. It is clear that on a media level, our sport has a sort of “Olympic dependence” in the sense that the future number of licensees is directly impacted by the results of the Olympic Games. Now, on a personal level, I am rather happy that this media coverage is occasional because I am someone who likes to go about my life quietly, without being recognized in the street or anything else. I like this pseudo-anonymity in which I am more comfortable.
Physically, how are you feeling today? For three years I’ve been dealing with problems, when it’s not the knee, it’s the ankle, when it’s not the ankle, it’s the hip… But that hasn’t stopped me from achieve results. This season is no exception for the moment, with a left knee which is causing me some problems. Last week, I went undercover and missed two days of training, but things are better now. I still have a little residual pain but nothing that stops me from expressing myself 100%.
Have you brought anything new into your preparation for these future Games in Paris? It’s not necessarily for the Games specifically but simply to train in the most effective way possible, so I integrated yoga into my preparation. This helps me enormously by allowing me to work differently, and I do it on good terms with the staff. Today, I’m 32 and I probably need different things than a 20-year-old. For example, I don’t think I need to do as much strength training as I used to. Yoga is gentler on my body. I perhaps also do a little less fencing than before because I have acquired some experience over the course of my career, and I know how to be more effective in four training matches without needing to do six. or seven. It’s lots of little details like that that allow me to optimize my preparation on an individual level.
To what extent did the victory in Japan in the team competition on December 10 put you back on a good collective dynamic? We’re not going to lie, this victory really came at the right time. We were coming off two poor performances with an elimination in the quarter-finals of a World Championship and a first round in Istanbul in the World Cup. Afterwards, because of these Games at home, we tend to quickly panic because there is a lot of waiting, particularly for fencing and for us, who are the reigning Olympic champions. But I don’t see it that way. We won the Games three years ago but that does not mean that we are the favorites for Paris 2024. That is not the case. And it’s a status that suits us to be the outsiders. But to come back to your question, this victory did us good because the team was renewed and our coaches had made a bold bet there by fielding a new team. This victory shows that we must trust ourselves and not sound the alarm at the slightest problem. Sport is not linear, there are always ups and downs. We need to feel confident to best prepare for these Games at home.
In fact, your trainer, Emeric Clos, thinks that you sometimes lack self-confidence on a collective level…I completely agree with him. It’s something very French. This is both our strength and our weakness. We are “intellectuals” who like to constantly question ourselves. Except that we play a knockout sport and we must not intellectualize everything. One day, in a competition, we may come across the guy in great shape who will beat us in the first round when we could have beaten the 62 other competitors. You shouldn’t question everything every time you lose. We must not always wipe the slate clean after each competition because in this case, we can never build anything while our sport requires long-term construction. For me, it’s all about a clever mix of self-confidence and knowing how to evolve.
Emeric also praised your mental qualities, your ability to shine in major competitions including two world titles (2019 and 2022) and your bronze medal last year. Does this mean that you are impervious to pressure? (Smile) Impervious to pressure, absolutely not. I think I’m one of the people who’s under the most pressure. Maybe I’m a little crazy but I feel pressure even in training. I hate losing so much that sometimes I come into a session with the goal of not losing and I get a pit in my stomach doing that. Now, maybe this allows me to manage it better on major deadlines, I don’t know… What is certain is that I am lucky that stress does not inhibit me, on the contrary, it allows me to seek out unsuspected resources to come back from situations where I get off to a bad start. But I wouldn’t know how to explain it because I work very occasionally with a mental trainer. So let’s say I’m probably lucky.
Coming back to this weekend’s IPC, you won it exactly ten years ago. What does this mean to you? I see it as a point of pride. Ten years later, to still be on the poster, in the French team, it’s not given to everyone to last so long at that level. I take the time to savor this longevity. Afterwards, regarding this CIP, I have no message to send to anyone. I have a very selfish relationship with my discipline. If I practice it, it’s for me, not to prove something to anyone. Even if obviously, this CIP is an important objective and I am going there to win. Now I know that if I win this weekend but lose in the first round at the Games, I will be spat on. And if it doesn’t go as I hope this weekend, no one will die. The objective is clear, and it is Paris 2024. My peak form should be this summer.
