Interview with Olympic vice-champion archers Baptiste Addis and Jean-Charles Valladont: “The silver medal is a victory!”

Addis, Valladont et leurs médailles d’argent posent devant les arènes, ce week-end. MIDI LIBRE – E. DZ.

The archers, vice-champions of the Paris Olympics, Baptiste Addis and Jean-Charles Valladont (in the team with France) were passing through Nîmes, where they are licensed. Joint interview… and silver ! And see you in Los Angeles !

It was the associations forum, Saturday in front of the arenas. And it was a party for medallists Baptiste Addis and Jean-Charles Valladont, Olympic team vice-champions with France at the end of July in Paris. The two friends from the Arc-club de Nîmes took lots of photos with their fans before answering questions from the press and from Midi Libre.

Jean-Charles Valladont, how does it feel to be the most decorated French archer in the history of the modern Games (he is the only one with two medals, Editor's note) ?

Jean-Charles Valladont : It is a satisfaction and a realization of the investment made for 25 years that I have been doing this, in Franche-Comté where I started, at Insep with other athlete colleagues, in Nîmes, etc. There is something important, it is the team spirit. We are lucky to do a sport that is practiced by teams and individually. There, I have individual success (silver medal in Rio in 2016) and team success. It's the same, except that you share it. Succeeding collectively, it concretizes the invisible work of everyone, the staff, the supporters, the little hands…

And this medal, you share it with Baptiste Addis, 17 and a half years old…

JCV : that's the beauty of archery, which can be practiced from 7 to 77 years old. I'm twice his age (35). You weren't born when I did my first Games, no ?

Baptiste Addis : yes, I was 2 years old (Beijing 2008, Editor's note) !

JCV : for those who invest in the thing, it shows that dreams are not impossible, at any rate age!

Baptiste Addis and Jean-Charles Valladont, Saturday in Nîmes. MIDI LIBRE – E. DZ.

When you finish 2nd behind South Korea in archery, aren't you 1st in the rest of the world, a bit like China in table tennis for the Lebrun brothers ?

BA and JCV : they are a level above, we knew it. They, at the age of 19, they have had the same technique since they were 7. But the gap tends to narrow. We did not enter the arena beaten, we held them in the first set, we did not demerit. It was a fantastic final (5-1). They won their gold medal, but we won our silver medal. It's a victory.

Baptiste Addis (also quarter-finalist in individual in Paris, best Frenchman), how can one reach such a level of sporting performance and serenity having been born on December 7, 2006 ?

BA : It's a whole. And it's a nice accompaniment. There's no age to have an Olympic medal. At 15, I was at the top of the youth team, everything was rosy and when you get to the adults, you don't win anymore, and you have to prove to yourself that you belong. It was necessary to not be too protective of me and to protect myself too. I understood in Paris that you needed talent, to be good, but also to be in shape on the day. In the individual quarter-finals, I didn't come far and I had the opportunities (eliminated 6-5 by the German Unruh, Editor's note).

What part does the Arc-club de Nîmes, and Manduel for you Baptiste Addis, play in this medal ?

BA and JCV : A major part ! Here too, it is a whole support, from volunteers to professionals, the starting point of the medal, the key point. It is the club that allows the machine to start. And it must be put forward in these moments, because everything starts from there.

And everything continues in Los Angeles ? Certainly for Baptiste, but maybe not for Jean-Charles… do the money and his two medals make you happy ?

JCV : The money, round, with a cord (he shows his medal, Editor's note), yes! We have to be satisfied with what we have done or achieved. We are not going to remake the world. Olympic silver, that makes me happy, yes. But the old man is still there. I will be 39 in 2028, but I really want to go to Los Angeles to beat Baptiste individually. That's news! Afterwards, sportingly, if there are three young guys like him who are above me, I will bow out. I thought Paris would be my last Games, but the team success rekindled the flame (smile).

BA: So far, I have been constantly improving since joining the seniors. The short-term goal is my first individual medals in the adults. Then my last youth world championship, in August 2025, for my last junior year. And for the Games, at least three, until Brisbane 2032, that would be good!

Jean-Charles, you have done four. What are your favorites??

JCV: to be chauvinistic, Paris. There were fears before, for everything and for nothing, small hiccups at the beginning, on transport in particular, but everything freed up afterwards. The excitement, the sites, it was magical!

BA: in fact, he preferred Paris because I was there (laughs).

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