Paris (AFP)
Green light under certain conditions: after two months of confinement, the French Olympic medalists and all high-level athletes can return to the training rooms. But the recovery will be gradual, especially in the absence of immediate competitions.
Since the start of confinement on March 16, the rules were in theory the same for everyone. Whether you are the decathlon world record holder like Kevin Mayer, a tenfold judo world champion like Teddy Riner, or an amateur sportsman, it is impossible to get away from more than a kilometer from home or to depart from the limit one hour of physical activity outdoors.
A "home-made" training, symbolized on social networks by Renaud Lavillenie jumping in the pole in his garden. But the time was starting to be long for some, especially for swimmers used to align the lengths of the pool and deprived of the sensations of water.
On the first day of deconfinement, a decree signed by Prime Minister Edouard Philippe gives a little air to the 5,000 or so athletes registered on the high-level lists (senior, elite, relief) of the Ministry of Sports, as well as to professional athletes , authorized to resume training in all accessible equipment, even indoors. For amateur sportsmen, the rules of the kilometer or the hour are lifted, but the practice must remain solitary and outside.
- "Professional activity" -
"Their activity being related to a professional activity, the threshold of ten people maximum authorized (for regroupings) will not apply. They will be authorized to move away more than 100 km from their home for the practice of their activity athletic, "the AFP said on the high level, while recalling the distance rules to be respected.
On the other hand, it is niet for collective or combat sports.
"The swimmers will be able to find the water, it is a relief (...) We begin to glimpse the end of the tunnel", summarizes to AFP the national technical director (DTN) of swimming, Julien Issoulié.
Now, "the cities must open the basins well. It will not be done in ten minutes, but it will get back on the road quietly" and "it will dive in the week, for sure".
Voices were raised, within the federations and among the DTNs to consider that high performance athletes should find their work tool.
- Mannequins for judo -
But between an empty competition calendar and the drastic sanitary conditions that accompany the recovery, some hesitate.
"My federation asked me if I intended to return to Insep, but a resumption of specific training at any cost is not optimal for me", explains AFP the florist Astrid Guyart, installed in the suburbs of Lyon . "I was always in contact with the physical trainers (from Insep), I followed a cardio program and a muscular strengthening program, I work on my travels ... And the next competition registered in the calendar of the International Fencing Federation, it is the Tokyo Olympics ", which have been postponed to 2021, she adds. What to see coming.
The DTN of judo, Jean-Claude Senaud, envisages a return to Insep, the center of excellence of the high French level, located at the Bois de Vincennes, on the edge of Paris, for the "thirty athletes who play the qualification for the Olympic Games ". If body-to-body training is prohibited, judokas may train on mannequins purchased by the federation.
"For launchers, it is recommended that only one person handle the equipment or that it be disinfected before each change of user," explains in turn the DTN of athletics, Patrice Gergès, who calls on athletes not to rush and "re-athleticize" first.
At Insep, as in the Creps, the reopening will be gradual. This will also be the case at the national altitude training center (CNEA) at Font-Romeu. "We will gradually reopen the outdoor facilities. For the rooms, we will see. There has been a decree (...) but we are still waiting for the little notebook that goes with it and the instructions to apply," notes its director. , Antoine Le Bellec, who expects to reopen the ice for an internship for the French short-track team from May 18.
© 2020 AFP