“What more?” French open water swimmers Caroline Jouisse and Océane Cassignol qualified for the Paris Olympic Games after the 10 km event of the World Swimming Championships on Saturday in Doha.
After almost two hours of a very tactical race, Jouisse took 7th place, three places ahead of Océane Cassignol, 10th. You had to enter the top 13 to earn the right to swim in the Seine in six months.
“Ohlala, I can’t believe it, my first Olympic Games! I can’t believe it,” said Océane Cassignol with a huge smile. “I have been fighting for this qualification for a while and, at 23, I am participating in my first Games. And in Paris too! What more? I’m super proud, I really thank everyone for being by my side, all the staff. Thanks thanks thanks.”
Less demonstrative, Caroline Jouisse, good surprise of the season in the French clan, simply congratulated herself on having “fulfilled her contract”. “It’s validated, so now all that’s left is: the Games at home!”
At 29, Jouisse, who was only playing his second World Championships (after 2022), will also participate in his first Games, just like Cassignol. “I’m a late-blooming flower,” she joked. “I got into open water in 2012, so after twelve years, this is it, the Holy Grail!” For Stéphane Lecat, the boss of the discipline in France, “this is proof that reaching the highest level is not just about talent. It’s above all intelligence and work.”
In Doha, the one who trains near Saint-Raphaël has given herself the means to achieve her goals by bringing in her personal mental trainer. “She was with me yesterday (Friday) and this morning. She brought me a lot of calm and relief, it helps a lot. We’re the ones in the water, but there are lots of people around and that’s really important.”
“She is thoughtful, pragmatic and determined,” commented Lecat. “She has a big character, but who doesn’t? She has a great coach, Yannick (Cadilhac), and a great environment. Nothing is done alone. Never.”
Unlike Jouisse, Océane Cassignol experienced an early development by being crowned in the relay of the World Championships in Budapest in 2017, when she was only 17 years old. But then she went through a long period of doubts.
“She is a three-time junior European champion and after that, it’s not easy. But she comes back, she hangs on, she doesn’t let go,” Lecat testified. “It’s a life journey to show to the youngest, to those who succeed very young and who have difficulty behind. We must not give up.”
“Swimming is a sport that requires a lot of rigor and sacrifice,” admitted Cassignol, who trains in Italy. “I don’t see my family much. I went through some very difficult times, I’m happy to have come out of it and put in a performance like that.”
The race, which took place in the bay of the Old Port of Doha, a renovated district with pastel-colored houses, was won by the touchline by the Dutch Sharon Van Rouwendaal, Olympic champion in Rio, in 1 hour 57 min 26 sec .
In front of a huge cruise ship at the dock, silver went to the Spaniard Maria de Valdes and the bronze to the Portuguese Angelica Andre. On Sunday, Marc-Antoine Olivier and Logan Fontaine will also try to win their ticket to Paris.
