“We want the boys to remain accessible”: How the Lebrun brothers' family is handling the new craze around ping-pong nuggets ?

Since their magnificent adventure at the Paris 2024 Olympics, they have had to manage a whole new craze around them. XinHua – Wang Dongzhen

Media requests “have tripled” since the Paris 2024 Olympics: the Lebrun clan has learned to live with the popularity of Félix and Alexis, exacerbated by the Olympic medals won in Paris, with enthusiasm and a good dose of organization.

In just a few months, Dominique Lebrun discovered a new profession. A teacher near Montpellier, the mother of Félix and Alexis Lebrun has since the spring put aside her first job to devote herself to the careers of her sons, aged 18 and 21 respectively.

“I think it's important that we are there as parents to help them, to accompany them a little longer”, says the 51-year-old teacher who now works from home, receiving requests from clubs or fans, among other things, and responding, as best she can, to requests from journalists.

These have “tripled” in the last month August 2024 historic for French ping pong, during which the Lebrun Brothers won two bronze medals at the Olympics, one in the team event alongside Simon Gauzy, the other in singles for Félix.

Alexis Lebrun: “I think we managed it well”

When asked to describe life afterward, their mother evokes “the word happiness” with “memories”, and “enthusiasm”. “But things are also calming down a little bit and we don't necessarily want to change everything” on a daily basis.

“We knew that this was going to be a slightly more complicated period, that we were going to have a lot of demands”, explains Alexis Lebrun, ahead of the European Championships in Linz (Austria). “I think we handled it well, we took it lightly and we also used the competitions to calm down a bit”, continues the eldest of the two brothers.

Read also: “I'm only 18, I don't feel a lot of pressure”, admits Félix Lebrun before the European Table Tennis Championships

“There are people who recognize us more and more in the street”, adds Félix. Around them, the “Team Lebrun”, notably composed of the coach Nathanaël Molin and the parents Dominique and Stéphane Lebrun, a former high-level player, has grown with the arrival of a “social media manager, an accountant, people who manage the sponsors and little by little a lawyer”, lists Dominique Lebrun, concerned all the same about “create something human and professional”.

A whole family business

“My mission is no longer limited to the sports field”, for several months now, also says Nathanaël Molin, “in connection with a whole sponsorship, media and career management part”, of two boys who have “surpassed their sport”. “They manage very well”, continues the man who saw the birth and growth of the young champions, “but it's still not that easy”.

For his part, faced with the flow of requests, Dominique Lebrun has also changed his organization and can count on his eldest daughter, Roxane, 26, who “sends all the signed cards, sorts the newspaper articles, also helps me with the expense reports”, when his other daughter, Margaux, 24, is very involved in the events life of the Nîmes-Montpellier club.

“We try to answer everyone a little, we want the boys to remain accessible”, continues Dominique Lebrun. “It's becoming a small business but it's all about happiness, we really try to do this with a smile, to make people happy and to adapt as we go along”, while ensuring that the demands don't take precedence over the sport and our moments of pleasure”.

Craziness in Montpellier

The Nîmes-Montpellier club, managed by Stéphane Lebrun, has also had to deal since the start of the school year with the influx of young table tennis players who have come to fill the room. “Some take the pen-hold”, used by Félix.

“And now there are rackets named after Alexis and Félix, people want to identify with them”, comments Dominique Lebrun, also happy to see the evolution of table tennis in France. And at Christmas, “if under the tree, there are lots of little Alexis and Félix rackets, that would be crazy”.