"It will take a strong goal to hold on," he added of the next four years, which could take him to the 2026 Olympics in Italy, on the Anterselva site for the biathlon events.

Q: Between all the media requests this Saturday and especially the day without racing or training, are you achieving the feat you have achieved?

A: "That's exactly it. It was complicated to enjoy during the Olympics, because the cold causes a lot of fatigue, and the results also cause a lot of stress and additional fatigue. Recovery was much more complicated, especially after the individual. I didn't particularly enjoy the emotions of the Games, but that was the way I wanted to approach these races, to really stay in it. I wasn't there to party, I was there to collect medals.

Quentin Fillon Maillet, Olympic pursuit champion at the Beijing Games, on February 13, 2022 at the national biathlon center in Zhangjiakou Jewel SAMAD AFP / Archives

Q: How did you build this performance?

A: "I still maximized my chances of medals. I arrived with a lot more weapons for these Olympic Games. The sequence of races was very important for me, recovery, staying in the protocol that I follow in the World Cup, very far from partying and enjoying every night. It was quite strict, whether it was in terms of nutrition, sleep, trying to be the most efficient on the move. It was quite military, but finally the medals are in. I was able to enjoy last night (Friday) with the staff, and I'm starting to feel a little the magnitude of the medals, to read a little the several thousand messages of congratulations that I I was able to receive. I think that I will still take the full extent of all this once I return to France."

Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, on the shooting range, during the mixed relay of the Beijing Olympics, February 5, 2022 at the national biathlon center in Zhangjiakou Tobias SCHWARZ AFP / Archives

Q: Is your late hatch and the amount of work you put in to achieve it a source of additional pride?

A: "I think I still have certain genetic qualities transmitted by my parents to get there, but I've never had it easy. When I test a sport, the first time, it's always laborious and complicated. And then, the more I practice, the more I manage to understand the gesture and to evolve.(...) I always hoped to reach this level and at each end of the season, I take stock, of the good, the bad, of what I can improve. The possibilities of evolution are endless. Each year, I always push the cursor a little further, and the performance is there, it has no limit. I tell myself that to live a moment like this, if I have to work day and night for a year, I would work day and night for a year (...) My investment must be 100%.I have to finish training having improved something, I'm not going there to please the coach."

Frenchman Quentin Fillon Maillet, during the sprint (10 km) at the Beijing Olympics, February 12, 2022 on the track of the Zhangjiakou National Biathlon Center Tobias SCHWARZ AFP / Archives

Q: No one has managed to achieve such a performance for a century, not even Alain Bernard or Laure Manaudou in swimming, or even Martin Fourcade in biathlon.

What inspires you?

A: "The medal record, I don't imagine it too much. When I experienced the performances of other French people, it seemed so monstrous and unplayable to me to do it myself. I never imagined being able to bring back five Olympic Games medals. It was unthinkable. And there, to be compared to athletes like them, it's extraordinary."

The joy of French biathlete Quentin Fillon Maillet, individual Olympic champion, during the medal ceremony on February 9, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Odd ANDERSEN AFP / Archives

Q: How did you manage the series of races, six in the space of thirteen days?

I chained super performances, but not as many as that.

I thank my teammates on the relays who helped me get medals, thank you to the whole team who was there."

Q: Do you already see yourself in four years?

A: "I'm thinking about it a little bit, but for the moment I haven't established a strategy yet. I still see a lot of possibilities for evolution and going even further than all that. Motivation, I think I I'll always have it. But it will take a strong goal to hold on, because I've already checked off quite a few of them and I hope to go and tick off yet another one, one of my big career goals which is the crystal globe for the end of the season."

Quentin Fillon-Maillet, carried in triumph by the French biathlon team, after winning the individual Olympic title (20 km) at the Beijing Games, February 8, 2022 in Zhangjiakou Odd ANDERSEN AFP

Interview by Clément VARANGES and Thomas BACH

© 2022 AFP