Each week of June, 20 Minutes gives the floor to athletes who should have participated in the Olympic Games in 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, a somewhat special story. The swimmer Mehdy Metella was not to participate in the Tokyo Games, the fault of a shoulder operation earlier this year. The postponement to 2021 offers him the prospect of not missing this great global meeting.
Mehdy Metella is a little annoyed at the end of the phone. The Guyanese, bronze medalist at the Rio Olympics with the 4x100m freestyle relay, is sailing between two feelings. The coronavirus pandemic was an unexpected opportunity for him, who had given up on the Tokyo Games due to a shoulder operation. And at the same time, how can we speak of luck in the face of such a health crisis, which has killed more than 400,000 people worldwide? "My heart is split in two," says Malia's little brother, Olympic vice-champion in 2004 and the world champion in 2005. You can understand that. He returns for 20 Minutes to these emotional roller coasters, and the way he approaches his return.
First of all, how are you? Where are you with your injury?
It's going very well, rehabilitation is going very well. I resumed training last Monday (June 8). Each day I do 45 minutes of rehabilitation, I continue with weight training and then a small swim of 10-15 minutes. I find the pool little by little, it feels good.
Has containment not stopped in your rehabilitation?
Not really, I was in my apartment in Nice, I could work well, quietly. I was in touch with my trainer who gave me exercises to do. I was not late. On the contrary, it helped me to think about myself, it opened my eyes a lot.
On what, for example?
I realized that before, I always went on vacation with my brain full. And suddenly when I came back, I was not at all rested. I couldn't stop my body. I thought back to what I had done wrong during the competitions, even if I had won or made a podium. The top athlete is never satisfied with himself, he always finds things to complain about. Finally, I work like that anyway. I always think of faults in my swimming, etc. I think a lot, even on vacation. You can be fine for three or four hours, relaxed, but suddenly it comes back. It's tiring.
So during this period did you learn to really drop out?
That's it. Empty, completely, think of something else. It will help me I think.
How did you feel when you learned that the Olympics were finally postponed?
Honestly, I was the happiest man in the world. It's normal, my sporting side spoke. Because from a human point of view, I was well aware of the situation, of all the dead. Some people did not understand that I could rejoice. But I was not only talking about my sport, my life. The Games are the Holy Grail for all sportspeople in the world, except perhaps footballers. Hearing you say that you're going to have to wait four more years to live your dream is very hard. You fight for three years to reach the highest step of the podium, and suddenly, nothing. So yes, I was glad it was postponed. It is fate, absolutely no one could have foreseen that we would face this situation one day. In fact, my heart is split in two. One half, that of the sportsman, is very happy. And the other is very sad.
What does it mean for a top athlete to miss the Games because of an injury?
It's horrible. Speaking of swimming, it is not easy to live from it. And the Olympics is the only competition that can fundamentally change your life. If you bring back a medal, it's like you were given a ticket to change your life. So having to give it up is terrible. But I had to. Since October [2019], I have been suspended. I was told that my shoulder could give way at any time, during a race or during a weight training session. Each time I did it, my arm could drop, I could take the 100 kg bar in the face and it would be over. It was very hard to live with, and I had to bring myself to the operation [he suffered from a partial rupture of the rotator cuff]. I worked a lot on myself to tell myself that it was not so serious, that there were other things in life. But when you are a top athlete, you fight for the Olympics, that's all. That's what's left. It's our World Cup, our Champions League. There is nothing above.
Did you have a period of depression after this decision?
It was hard. But I could only tell myself that it was not so serious, that there would be other competitions after which I could bomb, like the European or world championships. But it's really not easy. I don't have the words to say how bad I was. It's something I don't wish anyone.
And now the motivation to come back doesn't have to be very hard to find ...
It is not a motivation, it is a rage! It's huge how I feel. As my sister said, this is something that should not have happened ... Postpone the Games! The unthinkable thing. Unimaginable. I still can't seem to realize, by the way. But I don't forget why we had to postpone them.
A year, is that what you need to get back to the top, or can it go faster in your opinion?
No idea, frankly. I don't know how my body will respond. In any case I always tell myself that I am young, even if I go on my 28 years [in July]. My coach tells me that I'm getting older, but I don't listen to it (laughs) . So I have confidence in my body. And I know him better. It is a challenge in any case, to see how I will manage to bounce back.
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... ✌ ... Effort is the only currency to buy success. 2021 🇯🇵 I'll be there don't worry. . . . . . . . #blackandwhite #adidasswim #adidas #adidasoriginals #adidasparis #cercledesnageursdemarseille
A post shared by Mehdy Metella (@metella_mehdy_officiel) on Mar 24, 2020 at 11:14 am PDT
Do you have confidence in your shoulder today, or can't you help but pay attention?
No, I'm more of a hothead type. When I arrive in muscu or at the edge of the pelvis, my mind acts as if I have a completely normal body, without injury or anything. Good on the other hand when I dive after the muscular session and that I realize that I cannot make the first movement of arm, there that returns in my brain. I have to make the little dog to warm up a little, then some support and then I can start to raise my arm a little. I don't swim as before, but frankly my swim is pretty drinkable I think. I think I can get back to my level soon enough.
Is it harder to come back when you are a swimmer? We have to stay out of the environment where we are used to for a long time, the sensations may take longer to return…
So not at all. For me anyway. Because this period strengthened me. It's a kind of renewal, motivation level. Because it is all well and good to say that you are going to work hard to be an Olympic champion, but it is the way you are going to work hard that matters. You have to do it intelligently, and I had time to think about it. I even watched videos of entrepreneurs' conferences in the United States. I came across one that marked me, a person said that, it was necessary to think about how to put things in place, not just wanting to work, work, work, but to think carefully about the path to reach its objectives.
What did you feel the first time you got back in the water?
Ah it made me funny. But I was surprised, I thought I would have turned into stones, but in fact not at all. I found that I was floating well, I was amazed. It doesn't get lost like that. I had kept good support in the legs, my right arm [which has not been operated on]. Right after, the left arm is like it's brand new, like a newborn arm (laughs).
Are you happy and confident for 2021 today?
Yes, I am happy. You have to eh! Anyway, I lived worse, I went through my life through very hard times, when I felt like I was alone. I had very dark ideas. All of this makes me smile today, even when I'm at my lowest. Franck Esposito [specialist in the 200m butterfly, Olympic medalist in Barcelona in 1992 and vice-world champion in 1998], said to me one day: "Where you recognize a champion, it is in his way of going up when he is at the bottom of the well ". I have thought about it often. It served me to move forward, to tell me that I was stronger than the others. So strongly 2021.
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- Covid 19
- Coronavirus
- Olympic Games
- Swimming
- OJ 2020
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