Paris (AFP)
At the end of a new season accomplished (world title, World Cup), the Olympic mogul champion Perrine Laffont assumes, in an interview with AFP, her little grain of "madness" and her "extravagant character".
Q: You've already won everything at 22.
What else can keep you running?
A: "Anything that can happen to me now is just a bonus. It's like I don't have any pressure from the result anymore. I'm working hard, trying to improve in skiing and jumping. and we'll see where that takes me. When I was young, I needed to gain something in exchange for the effort I put in in training. Now I take pleasure in hurting myself in training and I take pleasure in feeling myself progress. Next season, there will be the Games, it will be a big goal and a big season. I do not yet have the feeling of having done the trick in my discipline. "
Q: Do you feel like you're leading the life of someone your age?
A: "I have the impression that top-level sport has aged me. From a very young age, I had to be hyper autonomous, knowing how to manage one's schedule, partners, demands. 'quickly switched to adult life. I quickly matured. In my head, I'm still a child and I'm not yet 22. I have a life of a person of 30 years, which is not the same as that of my friends but the fact of being a little crazy in my head and a good living, that compensates and I know how to make the difference. With my friends, I disconnect from the life as a top athlete. "
Q: Do you need that touch of madness in the practice of your sport?
A: "There is a need for it. It is a hyper visual and very artistic sport and very impressive to watch. As we have noted, we want to do the show, be it beautiful, aesthetic. It takes a little bit. crazy, a little extravagant character. But it's easier to push the limits in training, to do crazy things because you have nothing to lose. But in the race, I play big and I have the ability to play a globe, you have to be consistent in all the races so I can't take too many risks. On my running runs, I am steadfast and I do things well without going looking for sick stuff . "
Q: How do you cope with the perpetual waiting around you?
A: "I try to cut myself off from all that and all that is being said around me. But it's not easy. I have a lot of expectations myself, I want to accomplish great things and sometimes it puts too much pressure. But through mental preparation techniques, hypnosis, these are things that I manage to forget. Sometimes it's hard to ski, I feel like I'm there because I was told to be there. But I have always enjoyed skiing and when I have fun and I'm happy with what I'm doing, it works. When I'm not, I do stuff sucks. But you learn to deal with it with experience. "
Q: Are you going to approach the Winter Olympics in Beijing in 2022 with more freedom, four years after your coronation in Pyeongchang?
A: "I have the most beautiful medals and all that can happen to me is only positive. My career is already good. I have to realize that. It would be so good a second medal. Olympic gold, especially since it has never been done for the ladies. So it tickles me a little and I tell myself that it would be nice to leave a good mark on my sport. "
Q: How do you deal with failure when you are used to winning everything?
R: "It hurts. It allows me to kick my buttocks, to tell myself that nothing is taken for granted, that we must continue to work. If I won everything, after a while there would be weariness. that would settle in. There, I know that I have to be 100%, that I have no room for mistakes. It pushes me to keep training and stay motivated. "
Interview by Robin GREMMEL
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