Paris 2024 Olympic Games: “High-level sport is a violent system in which to lose is to no longer exist”

Laetitia Meignan campaigns for a sport that favors development and personal progress over pure performance. Midi Libre – Richard Gougis

Originally from Orsay (Essonne), several times European judo champion and bronze medalist at the Barcelona Olympics (1992), Laetitia Meignan settled in the region 25 years ago. She is an educational advisor, responsible for prevention in sport at Creps de Montpellier and campaigns for an approach that does not favor results alone.

In what areas do you work at Creps ?

I contribute to implementing the ethics and integrity plan developed by the ministry. I work on management, training and kids levels. The violence is systemic. Our way of deciding for others is violent, prioritizing the result over the path is violence. For me, it’s research that interests me. We spend a lifetime trying to understand each other and we never finish. I am very attached to developing cooperation and collective intelligence. I was very moved during Olympic week to see schoolchildren united to organize their Olympics. It exuded joy and doing things together. It’s the best that sport wears, which also has a lot of drifts.

Which ones?

We are in a system which does not make enough use of cooperation and mutual aid but favors individualism and rivalry to exploit. Take competition: I would love it if we choose the rules of the game. Be the fastest and strongest, OK… hellip; But why not be the most creative or joyful, the most collaborative? This would allow us to explore all possibilities. We limit ourselves and we create something extremely dangerous.

Concretely what is being put in place again ?

For me it's a lot of research because all the tools we currently have are insufficient. My strategy is to be in contact with all those who are sensitive to these issues and work on them, writers, researchers, associations… By analyzing the obstacles, we can put in place new tools. For example, the notion of a restorative circle is a tool that I have been trying to put in place for several months. To do this I have to train myself, train colleagues and convince decision-makers who sometimes slow down because it means giving up power for them. The idea would be that everyone can express their needs collectively. It would be more respectful and productive even in the context of performance.

Comment on mental preparation ?

No. This is not my job because I am a researcher and educational advisor. There are psychologists and mental trainers for that. Rather, I am here to move the system forward. I am going to look for speakers in popular education who can bring something to young people. I also participated in the writing of a book on the prevention of violence in sport which will soon be released by Masson. We must prioritize collective intelligence to have a humanist culture.

Has sports preparation evolved profoundly since your time ?

No, it's evolving very slowly. The hard sciences are favored over the human sciences which seem essential to me. We have mental trainers but we still have to win in our culture. In the current sporting dynamic, the dangerous dimension is wanting to be without limits, to take oneself for the gods of the stadium. Exploring possibilities, growing together, it’s necessary, but wanting to be a god… Let's leave them in their place!

Barcelona 92: “Peaceful and touching”

Bronze medalist in judo (light heavy) in 1992 é Barcelona, ​​Laetitia Meignan keeps a memory ému : "It’éwas very&peaceful while the world at war, in difficulty  and that Spain was emerging from Francoism. The opening ceremony bore the image of a city saved from nothingness. It’éwas & both heavy and touching. I shot’ the 2nd day of the first week and I was then able to walk peacefully around the city. I enjoyed myself."

On a sporting level, no particular regrets:"I didn’n’t have a goal. I have always experienced competitions and post-competitions as violence because we are in the representation. I lost in the first round by decision against an Irish world champion whom I had beaten before the Games. I was not in my right mood, not present, the psychological preparation was disastrous."

And then, the reward at the end of the draft marathon: "In terms of numbers, that’ It was normal to be third because I was 1st European. air after the fight for bronze against an Englishwoman and I say to myself, what did I rejoice about ?"< /p>

You won a medal at 32 years old. Is it harder to last today?

The difficulty, when you get older and you stop due to injury, is being able to resume while managing to turn off the pain alerts. This is something that I denounce because the high level is a system that silences pain alerts, it is clearly an attack on integrity and we need to review that. A fellow cyclist told me that she imagined having a pack of wolves on her heels to surpass herself. I believe that competition as it is structured pushes us to put ourselves in survival mode. Indeed, when we win, we have survived the worst. Because losing means no longer existing in the world of sport. An athlete is dependent on the result, he does not exist by himself, it’s called reification. It becomes an object.

Will you attend tests in Paris ?

I was invited by the CNOSF. I’ll go see skating with my daughter at Place de la Concorde. Above all, I will go and feel the atmospheres. Currently there is only fear and I hope to see joy this summer.

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