Paris 2024 Olympic Games: memories of Lozerian Brigitte Guibal, silver medalist in kayaking at the 2000 Sydney Games

Brigitte Guibal supervises the training of hopefuls in Toulouse and is involved in the Muret club. Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Before the Paris Olympics, each month we offer you a portrait of a former medalist from the region. A series inaugurated with the Mendoise Brigitte Guibal, who brought home silver in Canoe-kayak during the Sydney 2000 Games. Having become a PE teacher in Muret, she hopes that the 2024 edition will have an impact on the physical activity of young people. 

On the edge of this small arm of the Loge, on the Île du Ramier, the water of the Garonne challenges the young kayakers from the Toulouse club who fight against the current under the gaze attentive from their coaches, Eric Piau and Brigitte Guibal. Even muddy, the water shines with an eternal radiance in the eyes of the Lozérien, born in Mende, who grew up near Florac and kept ties to Montjaux, in the ;Aveyron.

A childhood in freedom, punctuated by the passionate waves of the rapids, between caving trips, cross-country skiing and discovery of the great outdoors in the footsteps of a father technical advisor at the Cévennes National Park . "We spent our days counting mouflons, marking GRs, spotting animal tracks", smiles Brigitte Guibal , whose heart remained rooted in these green lands.

World Champion in 1997

The hair has barely turned white and authenticity resonates in reassuring echoes in the depths of this voice. Who would swear that she is crowned with the title of world champion and that she was close to Olympic gold, adorning herself with ;#39;silver in slalom at the Sydney 2000 Olympics ?

A silver medal in Sydney in 2000, which delighted her: "An Olympic medal, you have to go get it." Midi Libre – SYLVIE CAMBON

Sydney 2000: one step away from the gold medal

The videos have engraved the feat in digital stone on Youtube. Winner of the first round on September 18, 2000, Brigitte Guibal hopes to be able to take her Olympic title from Czech champion Stepanka Hilgertova.

After a second round full of pressure, completed in a hurry, the Lozérien is on the verge of losing everything by desalinating just before the last gate which she is on the verge of missing. Second in the end, behind Hilgertova and just ahead of another Frenchwoman, Anne-Lise Bardet, Guibal presents a mask upon arrival that we believe is marked by disappointment.

"Not at all, she corrects. I was still in my race and marked by the fear of having almost lost everything on the last door. I avoided disaster thanks to an Eskimo ride that became a lesson. Would I have won gold without this mistake ? Honestly I'm not sure. I made a mistake in each round which corresponds to a four-second penalty. I think this 2nd place corresponded to my level of the day."

Brigitte will be exultant when she receives her only Olympic medal on the podium. The smile and pleasure are intact almost a quarter of a century later."I made the effort to find it for you as I no longer really knew where I had put it", laughs the’ interested person who caresses the consecration of her career with her eyes.

"The world title is also a great moment but an Olympic medal you really have to work hard to get it, it’s not given to everyone. I also owed it to perfect preparation marked by an ideal dynamic between elected officials, coaches, DTN. Everything had been put at our service so that we could be as peaceful as possible."

Brigitte herself admits that she took up whitewater kayaking to immerse herself a little more in the heart of her nature and not for a second to go looking for metal precious at the bottom of the water:  "For me, it was for leisure, pleasure. It was Paul Amouroux, an executive at the Florac club who gave me the desire. Afterwards, it's true that I have always been quite strong in training. I got into the game."

She settled in Montpellier with her family and progressed in the wake of Myriam Fox-Jerusalmi, another Olympic medalist (bronze in Atlanta in 1996) and under the leadership of' Eric Piau. In 1997, at the Brazilian World Cup, Brigitte was a gold star under an alignment of planets: "I managed to be both fast and technical and I had gained in serenity thanks to mental preparation.

In Toulouse with Tony Estanguet

In Toulouse, she will then train with the rising phenomenon of French kayaking, a certain Tony Estanguet, long coached by Philippe Vuitton, Brigitte's companion. "Tony was already a perfectionist who left nothing to chance and we had very high level athletes with the Adisson-Forgues duo", remembers the Mendoise who arrived in Sydney in 2000, with the hope of debunking the Czech title holder  Stepanka Hilgertova.

She will snatch the money, happy, at the end of the descent, and hang up immediately, at only 29 years old, "because I" I always had fun in what I did but I didn't want to do too much racing. And the desire to have children was very strong."

Today they are following in their mother’s footsteps. Precious metal on the paddle, like Léo, recent under-23 world champion.  In Toulouse, Brigitte voluntarily supervises the training of young hopefuls a few uprooted people who carry out their studies in the pink city. "With the Toulouse club, we have set up this structure which allows them to come and train."

"A sport very impacted by drought"

She is also involved in Muret, as part of the UNSS and as vice-president of a very dynamic local club (90 members) . Reflection of a canoe-kayak in full explosion since the fabulous Olympic hat-trick of Estanguet ? "Tony gave new popularity to our sport but did not increase the number of licensees because we are limited by the lack of structures and reception capacities. It's easy to put 40 kids in a gymnasium for this or that sport but you can't manage that many in a pool."

Question of political will, financial cost, but also now of ecological constraints : "We are asked not to touch the bottom of the river and we are very impacted by droughts. This requires us to be very sensitive to the environment."

"Every day I am in awe of what a child does to me in PE class"

A first nature for Brigitte, like the art of transmission that she cultivates on a daily basis in her job as a teacher at the Muret college. &amp ;quot;Since I was little, I wanted to become a teacher or a farmer! This job is a joy. There is not a day when I am not in awe of what a child does with his means. It's true, a sedentary lifestyle, covid, have harmed our youth. Some have almost never run when they arrived in 6th grade. But seeing a child smile and regain self-confidence because we pushed them to surpass themselves is priceless. I really hope that these Olympics will be able to boost the practice of sport."