With the return of good weather, the deconfinement makes you want to bathe. If certain beaches are accessible this weekend, all the swimming pools are always closed. All of them? Not really. Because in recent days, some pools have opened their doors to top athletes who had to interrupt their preparation with confinement. This is the case of the training center of the Les Dauphins du Toec swimming club in Toulouse.
>> LIVE - Coronavirus: follow the evolution of the situation on Saturday 23 May
Recovery after two months off
Like his comrades, the 18-year-old Léon Marchand, a great hope for French swimming, was deprived of the pools for two months. But since Monday, he has been able to dive back into the large outdoor swimming pool in Toulouse, the usual training place for the dolphin club. "Frankly, the first time I swam, it was really incredible, it was super beautiful," he said at the microphone of Europe 1.
CORONAVIRUS ESSENTIALS
> Deconfinement: what could the new card presented on June 2 look like?
> Coronavirus: 5 mistakes not to make with your mask
> Coronavirus: the French Academy has decided, it will now be necessary to say "the" Covid-19
> Statistical corrections, rounded averages ... exceptional measures for the bac 2020
> Antibodies, reinfection, mutation: three questions on immunity to the coronavirus
> Why are French nurses among the lowest paid in Europe?
"They are never next to each other"
As everywhere else in France, physical distance remains the rule. Thus, the club organizes the resumption of training so that there is only one swimmer per line in the pool. No more than two maximum. "We have eight lines so we're fine," says Léon Marchand. At the most, therefore, there are 16 simultaneously in the large basin.
"They are never next to each other," reassures the microphone of Europe 1 Nicolas Castel, sports director of the Dauphins de Toulouse. "Obviously, when there are two people on a line, they meet, but they don't stop next to each other."
>> Watch Bernard Poirette's morning show in replay and podcast here
And like the deconfinement, this resumption of training in this famous club of Toulouse is done gently, gradually. Because it is the entire sports planet that has been shut down with the coronavirus pandemic. And like footballers or tennis players, swimmers do not yet know when they can resume competition. To the point that those in the high level section of Toec's Dolphins have not yet planned to do so until next year.