- Insep reopened on May 11
- A hundred athletes have returned to the facilities, including Brice Loubet, world champion in modern team pentathlon
- He evokes for 20 Minutes this somewhat special return to the fold
Every Wednesday in June, 20 Minutes will give the floor to athletes who should have participated in the Olympic Games within a few weeks. Resumption of training, planning for the coming year, psychological consequences, we will discuss with them all the facets of postponing their Olympic dream. This week, pentathlete Brice Loubet and resumption of training after confinement.
It has been just over a week since pentathlete Brice Loubet resumed training at Insep facilities. An eternity that he expected that. Even the Republican Guard horses he rides in training have been less confined. "They were ridden every day and were in better shape than the athletes at the recovery," laughs the gold medalist at the 2018 Worlds on the phone after a hard day's work. "I missed this rhythm and this routine". Both psychically and physically, the time is ripe for reconstruction. To "re-athletics", as he likes to say. Gently, first, to avoid injuries, and at full speed, later to regain the top level. Relaxation interview with a released man.
When did you resume?
Last Monday, for a short week now. Because the Insep didn't reopen right away for everyone and because we didn't know if we could swim, so we waited until the 25th to resume. It was starting to be a bit long. At the end of confinement, I had a little desire to find my daily sportsman who trains 35 hours a week, who is preparing for an Olympic competition, who wants to progress, to surpass himself.
Have the government's announcements and the prospect of a better tomorrow in the short term amplified this impatience?
Definitely a little, yes. But it is above all that at the beginning we imagined that we would resume at Insep on May 11, then we were told about June 18 and perhaps even June 2. Be aware, June 2 it would have been almost a month more wait anyway. But we were finally able to find a compromise with this date of May 25.
How did it go? How did you feel when you pushed back the Insep facilities?
Some pleasure. Pleasure to find the coaches (besides they also missed it, all that), to see again the friends, pleasure to find the training. We cannot yet resume fencing and horse riding we have just resumed. Swimming, we resume slowly too. This rhythm is not worse in the sense that it allows you to quietly reconnect with the collective.
And therefore no fencing until phase 3…
The advice we have been given for fencing is to do long distance lessons. But without touching it is difficult. Then we work on specific movements for outdoor fencing. From June 22, I think it will be able to do so and we will resume normally.
What have you been talking about with other athletes since the reunion?
We talked a lot about everyone's confinement, how it was, how we got out of it… Some were in apartments, it was harder for them, others in the countryside. Overall we are all happy to return to training. We don't talk too much about upcoming competitions, we know that there won't be any right away, anyway.
And so it was for you, this confinement?
I was lucky to stay with my parents who are in Perpignan. I spent time with my little sister. I managed to maintain a certain training rhythm by running almost every day and doing a little bodybuilding every day. Much less than usual for sure but I think I lived through this period well. We had time to learn other things. For example, I started to tinker a lot ... We set up a Van with my partner and we went back to Paris inside. I also had a little dissertation to finish when I had been hanging around for months (he laughs).
Let's go back to the Insep. What health protocols are in place here?
It's very strict. Masks are compulsory except when training. There are entrances and exits in separate places so that you do not pass twice in the same place, as well as traffic directions in the facilities. Everything is really in place to ensure that health standards are respected.
What about health tests and physical tests?
First there is a compulsory medical examination, without which one is not allowed to resume training. Then, it is a question of knowing if one had symptoms of Covid-19, if yes, serological tests are carried out to know if one had it or if one still has antibodies. After that there were all fitness tests on Tuesday to find out where we were. How much muscle mass we lost, did we gain fat, etc. And finally balance tests. All of this is supposed to give us a post-containment profile. It will allow us to target what we can do or not do when we resume. Those who are positive for Covid-19 have a cardiology test to make sure everything is in order and can resume training at very low intensity.
What did these tests give for you?
After two months of break I am at the same point as in September recovery where there is only one month of stop. I even feel better. So it's positive. Afterwards, you can very well have excellent sensations and get your ankles because the tendons necessarily come out weakened from such a break. Here, a table tennis player who had never had anything in his ankles in his career told us that he had injured himself twice during confinement. It's part of the coaches' job to channel us if we put too much pressure on the accelerator.
Do you feel like you've gone back a year somewhere?
I feel like I went back a year but not at the same time of the year. I would say more that here it is in October 2019, we have just resumed the season to aim for the qualification for the Olympic Games. Except that there, the season will be longer because in summer we will not have the usual break in September.
What does this extended season involve, precisely?
Already, we can not resume physically at the same level and for once, it would not be of much use in the absence of competitions. The priority for the moment is to re-athletize, we have lost muscle mass, gained a little fat mass, this is normal given what we have just experienced. With the coaches, we allow ourselves two months to find a level of pre-containment for everything related to the intensity of the training. After that, what must be said is that we are lucky to play a multidisciplinary sport. But for example, we say that in swimming, it takes twice the stopping time to find the level before. In any case, here at Insep, everything is planned so that we can serenely find our daily high-level sportsman.
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- Deconfinement
- Insep