Paris (AFP)

The free water strives to resist him? Aurélie Muller has decided to retaliate by trying to invite herself to the Olympics 2020 in the pool, 1500 m: "My Olympic dream is not broken," she insists in an interview with AFP Wednesday.

The 29-year-old swimmer has previously had a troubled relationship with the Olympics. In Rio in 2016, she was disqualified from the 10 km open water and deprived of a silver medal for embarrassing a competitor. Then at the World Championships in mid-July 2019, in Yeosu (South Korea), she missed a very close qualifying for the 10 km of the next Tokyo Games.

Q: Despite your new Olympic disillusionment, you're back in training. With which objective?

A: "The goal is that I want to go to Tokyo in swimming race, on the 1500m, which is now an Olympic discipline.In the summer, I looked a little times to see where I'm going And now, I see that it is, the qualifying time is 16 min 21 sec (16: 21.21 precisely), my best time is 16 min 24 sec (34), knowing that in recent years, I did not put myself at 100% in the 1500 m, it was always a competition of work.I think that to gain ten seconds on 1500 m, it is very This is a challenge, a challenge that I start, and as I love it, I feel good. "

Q: From your non-qualification in open water to this decision, what was your path?

A: "I did not have a great summer ... I asked myself a lot of questions, and it took me a long time to find answers, the first was: + Do I continue? it's not time for me to stop? + I answered it late in the summer, then it was: + All right, I still want, I'm not hurt , but how do I keep going? With whom? + I launched some tracks and I had Fabrice (Pellerin, who trains in Nice) on the phone, someone who works differently, a lot about the quality of training. There was a good band (Bonnet and Stravius ​​in particular, ed), a good dynamic and I needed a little change, variety, and here I am in Nice. "

Q: Why did you leave Philippe Lucas and Montpellier?

A: "Philippe has three qualified for the Olympics in his group (Olivier, Aubry and van Rouwendaal, ed) and for me, it was impossible mentally to train every day with people qualified for the Olympics, and with a Work focused on the 10 km, it was really double trouble, Philippe understood it very well. "

Q: Have you been close to saying stop?

A: "It's been a few years that I give of my person in open water, and that in the end, it does not give me too much in return, that where I want to perform, it does not work, especially for the Olympics. But there was that voice that echoed in me and that said to me: + It's not possible, my Olympic dream is not broken, I can not give up, I'm sure I have an Olympic destiny + This opportunity to I could qualify for 1500m, it was my chance and I had to grab it, otherwise I would regret it. "

Q: The main project is the technique?

A: "Completely! In open water, the most important is swimming.The turns, it's been a few years that I do not work.So I was very bad on the non-swimmers, the turns, the departure ... And my technique had deteriorated a lot With Fabrice, we put things back in. It's going really well Obviously, it's a lot of change, it's a different job But to put myself in the 1500m it can always help me in the years to come, if I continue to swim, it's a job that will not be lost. "

Q: We understand that this is not necessarily the last chapter of your career and that you have not drawn a line on open water ...

A: "I leave the doors open, obviously, I go step by step and I do not think I'm going to do Paris-2024. But today, I still want to swim, I feel I can still This year, I'm focusing on the 1500m and the Olympic qualification, and then we'll see. "

Interviewed by Elodie SOINARD

© 2019 AFP