Magda Wiet-Hénin is competing this Monday in the -67 kg category in taekwondo.
The Frenchwoman dreams of the Olympics since she was very young, she who discovered combat sports in the club of her mother, Valérie.
The latter was the first great French boxing, taekwondo and kick-boxing champion.
From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
This time, Magda Wiet-Hénin will have to fend for herself. Like all the athletes at these Games, she was not allowed to bring members of her family in her luggage, as health protocol requires. A heartbreak, as his mother holds a preponderant place in his career and in his life. The little brother, he had taken to Japanese in anticipation of this trip he dreamed of as a big fan of manga. “I wanted them to be there for this special moment,” she regrets. My mom, when I bring her to competition, I'm super proud. It's also a way of thanking her. "
It should be clarified right away.
His mother is not quite the average person.
Valérie Hénin is one of the first women to have made a name for herself in the very masculine world of combat sports, from the end of the 1980s. Her record?
European champion and double world champion in kick-boxing, world champion in full contact, world champion in English boxing and finally triple champion of France in taekwondo.
All this between 1988 and 2001.
Basketball, music and circus school ...
There is no need to look far for how the passion of little Magda was born, who as soon as she knew how to walk strolled in the room of the Punch club, created by Valérie's father in Nancy, as if she was at home. “I knew everyone, I grew up in this environment. I started with a little judo, and then I quickly got into taekwondo, at 6 years old, she says. I really hooked and at 15, I asked my mother if I could go to Creps d'Aix-en-Provence. "
But don't believe it, the mother took a long time to resolve to see her daughter take the same path as her.
"I made her do a lot of things to distract her, basketball, music, circus school, everything that was possible so that she did not fall into the combat sports circuit, relates the former champion. from the Punch room, where she still trains.
Unfortunately, it immediately stuck with taekwondo.
"
“Go on mom, knock it out!
"
"Unfortunately", so to speak, of course. It's just that Valérie Hénin knew the pitfalls all too well. “When I was little, I didn't understand why my mother always told me to stop because it was dangerous. I understood then. When you're a mother, you want to spare your children. Combat sports are very risky. And then at a very high level, it's a lot of constraints, regimes, and we don't earn a lot of money. "
After opposing the departure of Magda for the first time, spotted at the age of 12, she acceded to her daughter's request three years later. Aware that martial arts are written in its DNA. “She followed me very early on to championships, but when I fought, I entrusted her to people so that she wouldn't see it. But from 6-7 years old, she still managed to squeeze in, and I heard "go ahead mum, knock out!" ". It sounded weird to me, but in fact, she had always known it, she agrees. She asked me to let her live her dream, I had no choice, I let her go. "
Very gifted in sport, tonic and above all very energetic, Magda Wiet-Hénin progresses quickly and joins Insep, in Paris, in 2013. Three years later, she is on the trip to Rio, as Haby's training partner Niaré, who will win a beautiful silver medal. What nurture an ambition born, like the rest, very early on. “I have had this competitive side since I was little,” she says. I quickly get into everything I do, even when I'm playing cards. When I started taekwondo, I quickly realized that the biggest competition, the one with the most challenges, was the Olympics. So I immediately dreamed of the Games and a gold medal. "
It is said with such aplomb that we can only believe it.
This is also what marks in the young woman.
At the end of two minutes of conversation, one feels a maturity and a rather unusual determination.
“This ambition materialized in Rio, where I learned a lot, continues the one who became European champion at the end of 2020. Obviously, when you are alongside the number 1, you progress.
The preparation was interesting, and on the Games, these are unique emotions.
It's a big plus to have already experienced that, and since 2017-2018 I'm ready to say that I want to go to the Games to win a medal, thanks to this experience and the arrival of new coaches who have made me take a step forward in my performance.
"
"She is the star"
With, always, the support of his mother, never far to congratulate or console.
“She was in my place, she knows the stress, the issues, she knows what to say or not to say, to do or not to do, depending on the moment, explains Magda.
If I am approaching the competition, it will be a rest, a little message, etc.
We have our little habits.
And when I don't want to talk about sport, we cut, we do something else, we go to a restaurant.
"
From the outside, it looks like the mother has found the right balance between sharing experience and letting live.
During the interview, for example, we were very surprised to find that the girl knew very little about her eldest's career, whether it was her titles or her suffering.
A state of affairs assumed by the mother.
I didn't want her always brought back to me.
She is the star today, she is the one who performs, I was in a previous life.
What Magda does is exceptional, she doesn't need to know that I was a champion of this or that.
She must see me as a mother, not as a former sportswoman.
"
If this is obviously not completely possible - the two women were also able to measure the advantages that this represented - Valérie Hénin has always been able to be discreet in the career of her child.
“It's funny because I'm often asked if she pressured me, one way or another, and it shocks me every time.
No, we don't have this type of relationship at all, and if I had ever felt the pressure, I wouldn't have liked it, so I think we would have found a solution, ”says the girl.
“I have always been behind her, I helped her psychologically, when she asked for advice I gave her, but I never got involved beyond the limits, the mother engages. I let the people of the France team do their job. Often, she asked me to come to competitions abroad, but it was more to share a common passion. We have always been very close, and it's really nice to experience that with her. I was in Rome when she won her first medal at a Grand Prix, it was exceptional. She made me experience incredible emotions, I am very proud of her career, in sport as in her studies. She is a brilliant, pugnacious child, she never gives up. "
The precision on the studies is important.
This is ultimately the only aspect on which she has not compromised.
"She always told me to take care of my back," explains Magda, who after obtaining a work-study license, signed a CDI at Crédit Mutuel in October.
"Comfort to be able to concentrate fully on my career, and which will allow me to approach my retraining serenely," she adds.
Hiding in the bathroom with a towel on her head
It is not there yet, of course.
For now, it's only Tokyo that matters.
Without his mother by his side, therefore, but the latter has complete confidence.
“She's 25 years old, it's time to cut the cord a bit,” she remarks, smiling.
Valérie Hénin will be in front of her TV, of course.
Not sure, however, that she manages to stay until the end.
“It's horrible to watch, because until the last second anything can happen.
I remember a junior world championship, she was 15, I was hiding in the bathroom with a towel over my head, I didn't want to see anything, hear anything.
I've coached hundreds of people, but when it's your kid and you can't do anything when you see her in trouble, it's excruciating.
“The former champion knows it, the best place remains on the mat.
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