Paris (AFP)

A precocious talent in French judo, already double European champion of +78 kg at 21, Romane Dicko tells AFP about her journey to the Olympic Games in Paris in 2024, passing - except rebounding - by those of Tokyo l 'next summer.

In this second episode, the young judoka talks about her approach to the Olympic high mass, and imagines herself still fighting in Los Angeles in 2028.

"The Olympic Games are the biggest amateur competition. In judo, it's the Holy Grail to be Olympic champion. It's only every four years, we know it's very, very rare, again more in these somewhat special Covid years. Because we don't even know if it will really be maintained, I think the Tokyo Olympics will be even more valuable. "

"I have dreamed of the Games since I returned to Insep. It is once at Insep that we say to ourselves + ok, this is where the champions are created. If you are there, it is that potentially, you can get there. +. Then, while building my course, I told myself that it was more and more accessible. When Emilie Andéol (crowned Olympic champion in +78 kg in 2016 in Rio, editor's note) stopped her career, I said to myself + there is really room for a heavy +. I + performed +, I finished fifth at the World All Categories Championships in 2017, and I said to myself + that shows that I am there, I manage to beat strong girls. + And afterwards, it's true that as soon as I became European champion (in April 2018), I said to myself + the Games, it's possible for me in two years, I'm going to train for that + ".

"Then there were my injuries (shoulder and knee), but I always kept that in a corner of my head. In fact, it went a bit from dream to reality. For me, when you dream of the Games, that means it's inaccessible. When I won the + Europe +, it was no longer inaccessible, I knew it was possible. It was no longer really a dream, it was a goal to tell myself + I want to do the Games in 2020, I will do everything for it, because I know that I am capable of it. "

- "Want a long career" -

"2024, we think about it of course. Since we had the announcement of the Paris Games, it is also really in sight. Before I + perform + in senior, I already saw myself in 2024, at 24 , 25 years old, maybe really at my peak of form. But I also remained + focused + on the seasons to come. It is true that to think that there will be Games in Paris, it gives a special taste, a more taste for these Olympic Games. To think that one can be at the Olympic Games, it is already a very strong event. In addition to the home, with all our family, all France also which encourages us, one says to each other it's really special. It's in three years now, it would be really great already to be selected for these Games, and in addition to performing there +. Because it's Paris. I hope really be present. "

"It may not be an ultimate goal, because we still have to put Paris into perspective, we can put a lot of pressure on that. It's true that I put myself in the perspective that these are Special Games, because it's in Paris, but we must keep in mind that it remains, in quotes, + only + the Olympic Games, and we must not put too much pressure on yourself in relation to 2024. It There are also Games after, there are before ”.

"Los Angeles, I'll be 28, it's possible that I'll go there too. Me, I want to have a long career! In addition, in the heavy, the girls finish late. Ortiz (the Cuban Idalys Ortiz, No. 1 in the world over 78 kg), she is 31 years old. We'll see if my body wants to, and if my head too. "

Interview by Elodie SOINARD

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