“We're even stopped in the street”: the joy of Nîmes archers Addis and Valladont at the Paris Olympics

Baptiste Addis et Jean-Charles Valladont : “On va en profiter jusqu'à la clôture.” Midi Libre – Richard Gougis

En Célébration au Club France mardi soir avec la Région Occitanie, les deux archers nîmois médaillés d’argent par équipe ont confié leur ressenti avec quelques jours de recul. Un bonheur sans regret et une notoriété nouvelle.

What are your feelings after a few days ? Joy as a team and a little disappointment individually ?

Jean-Charles Valladont : very positive assessment. The idea is to leave without regrets, having shot the arrows as we know how to do and to be at our level. Individually, I came up against someone stronger than me on D-Day and as a team, we knew that we had the potential for a medal by coming second in the World Cup. We had confidence and our good qualifications allowed us to win this beautiful medal which fully satisfies us.

Baptiste Addis:For my first games, I wanted to fully focus on group dynamics and have fun. This is done for all the arrows. Individually, I came up against stronger players but in the quarterfinals all the same, which leaves good prospects for the future. Coming away with a medal for my first games, I couldn't have dreamed of anything better. I was surrounded by extremely brilliant archers in whom I had confidence.

Did you imagine the Games like this, with this fervor ?

B.A.: Not at all. I trained for two years for something that wasn't yet concrete. Jean-Charles and Thomas knew what to expect. I saw in turn what it was and it makes me want to train more to relive it.

How did you experience communion with the public ?

J-C.-V. : It's incredible, it carried us. Out of the 8,000 people, at least 6,500 were French. What's great is that the French are there to support sport in general and even more so the French. That's the magic of sport, that we must all be together and that the best person wins. There is respect for opponents.

B.A.: it didn't scare me. I knew how to take the crowd when it was necessary and stay focused otherwise. When you enter the arena, there are a lot of people cheering, it was just a magical moment. And now we walk around the France club, in Paris, people even stop us in the street, are very kind. It's a pleasure. We're going to enjoy it until the closing ceremony.

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