Bourg-lès-Valence (France) (AFP)

“Come on Kevin! Come on, come on, come on!”: Gathered in Bourg-lès-Valence, relatives and friends of Kevin Mayer fervently supported the decathlete on Tuesday at the Tokyo Olympics, despite gold medal chances already compromised by a back injury.

In this small town bordering the prefecture of Drôme, a department where part of his family lives, about sixty people - friends, relatives and a handful of anonymous - followed in front of a big screen the long ordeal of their favorite, diminished by strong thrusts in the lower back.

"I think he has to have fun actually, he has to have the state of mind he had on the pitch at the end and just take pleasure test by test. is better anyway. It is not by doing calculations, by thinking of the Canadian (Damian Warner, leader of the competition, editor's note) that he will manage to have fun and + perfer + ", summarized Thomas Mayer, brother of Kevin, commenting on this provisional fifth place very far from his status as big favorite and world record holder in the discipline.

"To see him there, up to resuming ... doing Kevin what, doing Kevin, it's good, it feels good, really, it's nice. He has a smile, so that's fabulous , it's great to see him like that, I live again, ”continued his mother Carole Mayer.

After Tuesday's events, Kevin Mayer can already be right: unless the Canadian leader fails to do so, he will not leave Japan with a first Olympic title.

"It's been a long day," commented his brother Thomas.

Thomas Mayer follows his brother Thomas' career at the Tokyo Olympics on television, August 4, 2021 in Bourg-lès-Valence JEAN-PHILIPPE KSIAZEK AFP

For his partner, the windsurfer Delphine Jariel, "the most important thing is that he has fun".

"We knew he was going to find a solution that he was going to get back into it, that even if it was hard every time, he comes back with his head held high. He worked for years for that, so he knows what to do, he doesn't need anyone, ”adds the young woman.

Kevin Mayer will have to achieve a great second day Thursday to win a second Olympic medal after the 2016 silver. And he knows that he can count on the support - even distant - of his relatives, who will further disturb the tranquility of the Drôme night from two o'clock in the morning Thursday.

© 2021 AFP