• Laura Tarantola and Claire Bové won the silver medal in a pair of lightweight pairs this Thursday morning at the Olympic Games in Tokyo. 

  • The duo, formed almost four years ago, display a sincere bond that is their strength. 

  • Very close, they have learned a lot from each other, and do not yet fully realize that a beautiful medal has just rewarded all this time spent together in recent years. 

From our special correspondent in Tokyo,

The final sprint is on and Mathieu Androdias can't take it anymore. He gets up and goes down a few steps to get a little closer to the water, where Laura Tarantola and Claire Bové are fighting for a medal. The Olympic champion in a couple of pairs the day before with Hugo Boucheron yells encouragement and begins to whistle. Very strong. We left our left eardrum there but it was worth it. The two Frenchwomen clinch silver in a lightweight pair, the first Olympic podium for French women's rowing in twenty-five years.

“It was super dense.

It hurt me this race, ”smiles Androdias a few moments later.

Finally, it is better to be on the boat than in the stands.

“Once the light turns green, you don't stress anymore.

There, it's a horror, you stress for more than six minutes, he breathes.

The last 500 meters, it was hot, hot, hot.

Everyone comes back, it's a huge end of the race.

They were super strong to succeed in positioning themselves at that time.

"

2?

“But no, it's our water line!

"

This last quarter of the race, let's talk about it. A tension not possible on the water and an indecision to take your breath away. Neck to neck with the Italians and the English, just behind the Dutch favorites, our two Frenchies keep up the pace before letting go of the horses as they approach the line. The four boats end in a pocket square. We turn our heads towards the notice board, excited, worried. The seconds stretch ... The rest, it is the two heroines who tell.

“We cross the line, completely in the juice and I do not know at all where we are, begins Laura Tarantola. I say to Claire "whatever the result, it was so cool, thank you". Then I see scoring second on the scoreboard, I say to Claire "look!", And she answers "but no it's our water line!". The two girls laugh. Claire Bové continues: "After I see that they show us in the image, I say to myself but noooooooon, it's not true, and Lolo who continues, who says to me" but siiiiiii, look we have to go to this pontoon- there, and not to that over there ". And there I start to say to myself yes, yes! "

🇫🇷🥈 FRANCE WINS THE SILVER MEDAL!

An incredible ending with an unbearable suspense.



👏 Laura Tarantola and Claire Bove come a few hundredths behind the Italian Olympic champions.



► Follow the Olympics live: https://t.co/t3mdRtumdd pic.twitter.com/KHvu9rJisC

- France tv sport (@francetvsport) July 29, 2021

But yes Claire, you are second, 14 hundredths of a second behind Italy and 49 ahead of the Netherlands, who save a medal for a tiny hundredth against England.

Extraordinarily small deviations after two bollards at the oar.

Not far from tears, Frédéric Perrier, their trainer, is struggling to realize.

“It's too huge,” he savored.

Lightweights are a special category, where all girls are at the limit (57 kg), and therefore have similar power.

"It's a super dense discipline, it is playing for nothing," he continues.

They optimized everything, which was a weakness before has become a big strength, since they are among the strongest today at the end of the race, while managing well in the middle.

"

"They said to themselves that anything was possible"

This silver medal is a nice revival for women's rowing, which had therefore not seen the color of a podium since Atlanta. At the time, Christine Gossé and Hélène Cortin won bronze in two without coxswain. The first is now in charge of the women's sector, which it has undertaken to put back on its feet for nine years now. She had a front row seat, of course, to watch the triumphant succession.

“They take the money, it's even better (than me), she appreciates. I'm super happy for them, for their coach and the whole team, because we don't succeed alone. There is an atmosphere in the team, support, in the stands there was the double, Matthieu and Hugo, who won yesterday [Wednesday] and that also gives momentum to the girls. They told themselves that anything was possible, they are always positive and we knew they were going very quickly in training. There was more than. "

This medal, like that of the boys, will give a great boost to French rowing, three years from the Paris Olympics.

Laura Tarantola (27) and Claire Bové (23) will be there, of course.

The two will not let go, and fortunately.

It would be a shame not to enjoy such beautiful harmony yet.

The two girls, each in their own way, are radiantly natural.

Laura the quiet strength and Claire the solar found each other, really.

Listen to them talk to each other (well, read ...), you won't be disappointed.

  • Laura Tarantola on Claire Bové:

    “She is a dream teammate, a person who for me represents surpassing oneself. She's hard at work, she has a well-made head, I have total confidence in her. In our boat, I feel this mutual trust, a lot of respect for the other. There, we arrived at a point of friendship such that when it is hard, we do it for the other. She has a bit of a grain in her head, sometimes she goes very far, I don't always understand her, but I got to know her. She is a great person, always in a good mood, and who when she has a goal in mind goes all out. For me, sport is a human and collective adventure, and I am very happy to share it with Claire. We will have this bond all our life. Vice-Olympic champions together, we took our relationship a step further! "

  • Claire Bové on Laura Tarantola: 

    “For me Laura is a rock, I find it hard to imagine that she could have weaknesses. I know I can count on her no matter what happens. She's strong all the time. In his head, it's calm, calm, fair. She has taught me a lot of things since we have known each other. I came out of juniors, and I found a golden teammate, someone who made me grow, who made me accept others, who took me out of my faults and learned to express myself for so that I can open up to others. I found a friend. We tell each other at each departure, you take me to the end of the world, I take you to Mars. Because without her I am nothing, I am not going anywhere. "

We warned you.

This duo, formed at the very end of 2017 when the youngest arrived in the France team - “Laura was an idol for Claire,” recalls Frédéric Perrier - seems to be made of reinforced concrete.

By spending nearly 200 days a year together, he resists everything, the injuries of the first as well as the less well blows of the second.

Example again three days ago, when Tarantola finds Bové in tears in her room because she is not at the right weight.

“I was scared too, but I calmed her down, we settled down, we discussed,” says the eldest.

“I'm a little freaked out about it every time.

And there, once again, I'm happy to have Laura with me who reassures me, completes Bové, really not the type to hide his emotions.

I trusted him and it went well.

" Oh yeah.

Sport

Olympic Games 2021 - Rowing: "We have set aside everything in our lives for this title", let go Boucheron and Androdias after winning gold

Sport

Olympic Games 2021: Chances of a medal in rowing and a big match for the handball players… Thursday's program

  • Tokyo Olympics 2021

  • Olympic Games

  • Sport

  • Rowing