In Tokyo at the end of July, just eliminated in the semi-finals of the 200 m, her favorite race, the one in which she was crowned European champion in 2018, and before knowing the same fate in the 100 m, Bonnet had expressed without detour his need to "ask the right questions".

“It was the accumulation of certain things. The whole year, it had been difficult. The fact that Fabrice (Pellerin) did not come to the Games (by choice, editor's note), it was a big blow. I got there saying to myself: + I'm going to try to limit the breakage. + It's not something that you say to yourself at the Olympics: you have to be 100% of your form and want to break everything. C 'was far from the case, "recounts for AFP the 26-year-old swimmer, competing for the World Short Course Championships in Abu Dhabi on Thursday.

The French Charlotte Bonnet, during the semi-finals of the 200m freestyle at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, July 27, 2021 Odd ANDERSEN AFP / Archives

"Every race I did, I couldn't wait for it to end, she adds. I said to myself: + Maybe it's the end + ..."

"A year and a half of galley"

At that time, her 2018 season, the best of her career, crowned by three European champion titles (200 m, 4x100 m and 4x100 m mixed), is only a distant memory.

"From the moment we resumed after confinement (from spring 2020, editor's note), it was a year and a half of hardship. I often cried, I was not happy in what I was doing, I was not happy. I didn't want to compete, admits Bonnet, also held back in 2019 by a painful shoulder. But I was pulling, I was pulling to go anyway to Tokyo, to still live my third Olympics. "

Charlotte Bonnet, during the French Swimming Championships, December 11, 2021 in Montpellier Pascal GUYOT AFP / Archives

Party on vacation after the Olympics-2020 with her companion, the Swiss swimmer Jérémy Desplanches, bronze medalist in the 200m medley in Tokyo, the 2012 Olympic bronze medalist in the 4x200m initially postpones her reflection.

"Because I did not have the strength and not too much desire", she sums up.

“And then towards the end, we talked about it, and Jérémy told me: + Anyway, I'm not coming back to Nice. + It made me happy to hear that, she says. , it worked very well for him, but humanly, he couldn't take it anymore.

"He asked me if I still wanted to. I told him: + Not too much +. And he said: + Don't stop on that, you'll regret it, you have to get back to you. in a new environment. And for me, it was obvious, if I left Fabrice, to go with Philippe (Lucas) ", continues Bonnet.

"Sacred sir"

Thus, at the beginning of October, the couple of swimmers put their suitcases in Martigues with Lucas.

It is the ex-mentor of Laure Manaudou, who, in the absence of Pellerin, had accompanied Bonnet to Tokyo.

“He's a hell of a man,” she smiles. "

Coach Philippe Lucas, on the eve of the French Swimming Championships, April 7, 2014 in Chartres CHARLY TRIBALLEAU AFP / Archives

"She is a committed, professional, hard-working girl," Lucas said of her new student to AFP. She still did weeks swimming 14 km a day. "

"It's a long-term job, but for me she's extremely strong," he said.

"The recovery was very difficult. I had never stopped for two and a half months. And with Philippe, there was no time to adapt, explains Bonnet. But I immediately liked it. . "

“After that, there are certainly several times when I gave up, where I wanted to give up, several times when I cried in my glasses…”, she admits.

But Bonnet now sees it clearly: "if I made this decision, if I made this big change, it is sure that I will be leaving for three years".

Until the Paris Games.

© 2021 AFP