• Serene all day, Manon Brunet missed her semi-final by discovering her referees.

  • In Rio in 2016, the latter had deprived her of the final by denying her a final decisive touch

  • The Frenchwoman was able to recover to leave with the bronze medal. 

From our special correspondent in Tokyo,

And the most beautiful eyes of French fencing had a flash.

Everything was going well for Manon Brunet, on her way to work all the sabers in Tokyo until the Olympic title, when one or two faces a little too familiar appeared just before her semi-final against Pozdniakova.

The same referees as in Rio, credieu.

Moonwalk until the 2016 Games. The 20-year-old pierces the table until the semi-finals, where she leads 14-13 against Russia's Velikaya.

One last attack that hits, and the 15th hit that lights up.

Except that the referee puts a stop, helped by the video.

An “unfair” decision according to Brunet, who lost the half and the bronze match in stride.

Rio's semi-final still on his mind

“Frankly, when I saw the referees I said to myself 'but it's a joke', concedes the Lyonnaise.

I didn't lose at all because of the refereeing but seeing them I said to myself "They challenge me, it's not possible".

I wanted to show them that it wouldn't change anything.

And well that has changed ”.

🤺 Manon Brunet shares the joy of her bronze medal in saber with her teammates from the France team # Tokyo2020 #JeuxOlympiques



Follow the Olympics live ▶ https://t.co/sufil7RauY pic.twitter.com/2nrELfAPuV

- France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 26, 2021

Jean-Philippe Daurelle, the soon-to-be-retired coach, gets it, but he doesn't have the right words: “I saw his gaze and said 'No', I should have said something else surely. There was no impact factually, but it was psychologically that felt an impact; she said to herself "shit, I'm in half, I am taking back the same two" ". 15-10, after a good start, however (4-1). “I was scared, I didn't have as much fun as I did all day on the track, and here's the job. No matter how much I worked on it, I still made a comeback in Rio ”.

She also thought the trauma evacuated since the beginning of the year, helped by a mental trainer "I took a long time to overcome, I remember the 2018 Winter Olympics, I watched someone win and a suddenly I said to myself "why she succeeded and not me?". Then after my failed worlds just after, I asked Enzo Lefort how he managed to win. He told me that the head was as important as fencing and that he was working with someone ”.

Present until the last moments of the preparatory training for fencers before Tokyo, Stéphane Limousin gives him a few tips: “I know that I have an application that allows me to let my emotions escape.

But tip number 1 is to be in the moment.

I make a choice and I go for it.

Everything that I didn't do in half what [laughs] ”.

The phone call from her boyfriend Apithy

After the defeat, the whole French clan freaked out for bronze.

"It's going to be very hard psychologically there," blows Erwan Le Péchoux, who saw her at the end, like us.

And he's not wrong.

In tears, the young woman does not even see herself able to get back on the track.

"I just cried and cried, I was so disappointed."

Fortunately, the girlfriends surround him quickly.

Cécilia Barder, Charlotte Lembach.

And then her boyfriend Boladé Apithy, the swordsman returned to France after his elimination on Saturday.

Although the latter must persevere a little.

“I had thrown the phone in the case, I didn't want to talk to anyone anymore.

But I ended up having it, we talked for ten minutes, it made me feel good ”.

Daurelle gives a last layer:

“We used the Buddhist method: when the water flows in the river, it is never the same water that we have in front of us.

I gave him this picture, as I give him a lot of pictures.

After a while, she was okay, she recovered.

She has a lot of positive around her, that surely helps.

"

A little bit my captain.

Back on the post two hours later, Brunet regains his lightness in front of the Hungarian Marton, sent without blinking.

The bronze medal then looks like an extraordinary quest.

Very moved, Manon Brunet lets out a torrent of tears, while the girlfriends rush to embrace her.

"It was hard to let go and scream, I was like 'if you scream too much you're going to cry straight out'.

When I put the 14th key, I said to myself "Stay focused, it's not done yet" It was very emotional ".

All that remains is to get rid of these four ghosts by Paris 2024. Vasil Milenchev and Florea Marius, Vadym Guttsait and Khassoum Touré, we never want to see you referee Manon Brunet again.

Sport

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