Nice (AFP)

He has two pole vaulters tattooed on his chest, his older brother Renaud, ex-world record holder, and he, Valentin: with the Lavillenies, the pole vault is "a family affair" but for the youngest, the ticket to Tokyo and his first The Olympic Games are first and foremost the story of a resurrection.

Recently recruited at the Regional Police Training Center in Nice, which gave him time to train while ensuring his post-career in a job he dreamed of, Valentin, 29, had his left heel broken while falling after jumping on a concrete slab in 2018. He has lived since with eleven screws in his foot.

"My mind was even more fractured than my foot", he told AFP, on the sidelines of a presentation of the police professions intended for sports students: "But it allowed me to rebuild everything ( ...) I'm approaching 30 and I feel like I'm a new kid. "

Because the young man almost lost everything.

"The surgeon looked me in the eye and said + Top-level sport, you can forget +", he said, before telling how one Sunday, returning to the rehabilitation center, he decided to resume , returning to the poles with a bite worthy of the handisport.

"I thought to myself, pain in the end, maybe I can get used to it."

Today, he goes so far as to "bless" this stroke of fate, despite the recurrent pain, the foot "full of osteoarthritis" where he injects "everything that is legal" and these mornings when he gets up without being able to walk .

"This accident, I love it because I have become someone else! I met my fiancee and I commanded the respect and admiration of everyone, my father and my peers."

- In the dark -

"It was a very hard fight that he led," confirms his father Gilles, who trained him for a long time in Cognac and spent six months without ever daring to speak to him about pole again after the accident.

This second post-crash career has taken a new turn this season, with a series of excellent results and a qualification for the Tokyo Games.

Small size of 1.71 m for 70 kg when his competitors are generally a head and 10 kg more, Valentin Lavillenie has indeed aligned since 2013 an honorable record but always jumped in the shadow of his brother, giant of the discipline .

But this year, he has for once also taken a little light, with a title of French indoor champion in February in Miramas, ahead of Renaud, only 3rd.

The youngest then became European vice-champion in Torun, Poland, with a jump to 5.80 m.

Compliments pour in, including those of the former star Jean Galfione, "the first Frenchman at 6 m, my father's idol!", He echoes.

"I'm ready to go past him, to go beat him, (...) I want to be number one", he now says about Renaud, while dreaming of a podium for two in Tokyo .

- no complexes -

An Olympic medal would still be a surprise, admits Valentin, whose personal best is 5.82 m.

The level is "very high with five or six guys who can be 6m at any time. But you shouldn't have any complexes."

In the Charles Ehrmann gymnasium in Nice, he bends over, chooses a pole, 40 meters of run, 18 strides and it's take-off.

For him, the postponement of the Games was "a godsend on the physical level".

"Level of preparation, I am optimal", he continues.

Coronavirus obliges, Gilles Lavillenie will not go to Tokyo to support his two champions, to whom, children, he always said "Go for it".

Himself a pole vaulter and the son of a pole vault referee, he ran a family locksmith business, his mother was a nursery assistant.

From Renaud, Valentin recalls that he is neither his coach nor his trainer.

"He's my full brother, a little extra strength, a support that others don't have."

The little brother is making his way.

"I've always been proud of what I do. My career could have ended three years ago and I was already proud of myself. What I've been doing since is a bonus!"

© 2021 AFP