• Steven Da Costa, a great chance for a medal on the French side, is in contention this Thursday in karate in the -67 kg category at the Tokyo Olympics.

  • The 2018 world champion has been practicing karate since he was a child alongside his brothers Logan and Jessie and under the supervision of his father, Michel.

  • He tells how this martial art has always been at the center of the family unit, located in Mont-Saint-Martin (Meurthe-et-Moselle).

From our special correspondent in Tokyo,

Last year, an old lady died in Mont-Saint-Martin.

The natural course of things, almost 100 years old.

His house, which adjoins that of Michel and Dominique Da Costa, quickly found a taker.

Their son Steven, karateka and world champion of his state, did not hesitate long before gathering his things and returning to the fold.

"I do not see myself living elsewhere than here", asks the son, who will try this Thursday to win gold for the big first (and last) of karate at the Olympic Games.

This return to Meurthe-et-Moselle, on the borders of Belgium and Luxembourg, was obvious to the young man of 24, who only sees things as a family.

“Training a lot is good, but if you don't have the head and the heart for what you're doing…”, Steven breathes.

"We did not come back to be at Club Med"

Installed since 2017 in Châtenay-Malabry, where the France-Karate 2020 Pole was erected, he obtained from his coaches the authorization to leave the national structure to return to his club with his brothers Logan and Jessie, also karatekas. Under the leadership of the father, who by dint of investing in the passion of his children ended up becoming their trainer. First on weekends, and then now full time. It was he who led the home straight to Tokyo, in conjunction with Olivier Beaudry, his coach in the France team, who learned to trust the clan. "He knows that we are serious, that we did not come back to be at Club Med," he explains. With us, it does not laugh. "

The Olympic preparation, also made possible by his status as a high-level athlete at the SNCF, which seconded him 100% all this year, therefore took place in Mont-Saint-Martin. Where it all began. The eldest, Logan, started karate at age 6, quickly imitated by his two younger sons, twins Steven and Jessie (four and a half years younger), who donned karategi (kimono) at age 4. “He loved fight movies, Bruce Lee. We were going to look for him in training, obviously we wanted to do the same, ”says Steven. The large plush he used to train on won't survive.

In their small town (8,300 inhabitants), the Da Costa are at home. Their training room, available on request, was 50 meters from the house. They have just changed, but the new one remains 5 minutes away on foot. Do not stretch the cocoon too much. The brothers claim this fusional side, without really knowing if karate has had an influence in all of this. “It's hard to say because we started out super young, Steven reflects. We don't know what it would have been like without karate, but I still think we would be as close because we have this very family mentality. Our Portuguese origins mean that we have this culture at the base. "

The paternal grandparents left the country to come and settle in this industrial region blessed with the Trente Glorieuses.

Born in Normandy, Dominique, the mother, was parachuted there to train people in a Cristalline factory that was opening just across the border with Luxembourg.

It was there that Da Costa's parents met.

They never left Mont-Saint-Martin, where they founded their family.

And the mom in all this?

We must not believe. Despite three full-fledged boys and a dad who has discovered his soul as a trainer, the family home has never turned into a giant dojo. The mawashi-geri or gyaku-zuki at breakfast time, very little for them. Even when it beats a bit, as it inevitably happens in a young sibling. The mother ensures the harmony of the home, even if it is often far from simple.

“The poor thing, she lives with four guys, and then phenomena. When we were little, we had to hold on. Now it's okay, Steven Da Costa laughs. In any case, she is the boss, she manages everything. And today, she follows us on all the competitions. She is as committed as my father, except that she does not train us. It is very important. "Then he adds, in case we missed it:" Karate is the central element of our family. "

This martial art took more and more place according to the results of the three brothers, who quickly made a name for themselves in the region.

But the competition was not always easy to manage, and coming out of adolescence, it was necessary to arbitrate so that everyone could express themselves.

Logan, originally in the same category as Steven (-67 kg), moved up to -75 kg, also because he was always on the limit.

In turn, Jessie, the strongest, was encouraged not to deprive himself to integrate the -84 kg and not to come down.

"Otherwise we would not have been serene, free to really fight, justifies the lightest of the gang.

There would have been calculations, it would not have been natural and therefore difficult for everyone.

"

"When there is a medal, it is for everyone"

Steven has always been the most gifted of the three.

The one who won the best results: European junior champion (2012), junior world champion (2013), vice-world champion (2015) and European (2016) hopes.

But, he promises, jealousy has no place in siblings.

“On the contrary, they are proud.

When there is a medal, it is a medal for everyone, ”he said determinedly.

We do want to believe it.

There remains, however, the difficulty of savoring a victory when things go wrong next door.

"It's hard, you tend to hold back.

You want to share but not to get them drunk.

Often, it is the brothers who explode with joy in his place.

“We never won all three at the same time.

We did it as a team, but never individually.

That would be a dream, ”he imagines.

Our dossier on the 2021 Olympics

Heartbreaking for him, he is the only one to have won his ticket to the Olympics. Logan missed the boat during the TQO played at Paris-Coubertin in June. Jessie was able to accompany him as a partner to Niigata training camp, but had to leave her brother when the latter entered the Olympic Village on Tuesday. The twin will be arriving at his parents' place just in time to watch the fights.

“Alone, it's harder, because there is more room to ask questions.

But I'll know how to get used to it, ”says Steven, who will not linger there anyway.

His house, where he has now finished the work, awaits him, right next to the parents' house.

“My mother didn't want to at first.

She said to me "but if one day you have a wife, and she does not want to see us so often, how are you going to do?".

I would answer him "well, I'm changing my wife," "recounts the karateka with a burst of laughter.

The worst part is that we have a doubt.

Sport

Karate: "I will not ruin my life if I do not win", loose Steven Da Costa, before his first Olympics in Tokyo

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