Paris 2024 Olympic Games: “Olympic gold is also the Holy Grail in the eyes of others”… the story of Adrien Hardy, crowned in 2004

Adrien Hardy, nostalgic gaze on the base that bears his name, in Beaucaire, on the banks of the sleeping arm of the Rhône. Midi Libre – Richard Gougis

Olympic rowing champion at the 2004 Athens Olympics in double sculls, the Nîmes rider took a few years to realize the significance of his feat, after having participated in four games. Two months before the Paris Olympics, he remembers and tells

His gaze is lost in the foam of the sleeping arm of the Rhône, there, on the banks of Beaucaire where it all began. At 45 years old, the beard has whitened under the blond hair but from his height of 1.97 meters, Adrien Hardy still displays the stature of a Nordic lumberjack, never frozen in the history of the Games by his powerful shovel stroke and cadenced. A "still rolls" capable of turning at 38 strokes per minute.

The current takes us back 20 years, this August 21, 2004, to the lake of Schinias where the legend was written between the lines. It was yesterday. A sunrise at dawn for the following journalist eager to see this, under a Greek sun already melted into lead. A weightless row for a double sculls final wrapped like a gift package with his Cannes friend Sébastien Vieilledent. The fruit of three years of working together, 180 days a year in less than two square meters. A real life as a couple in the same struggle.

The French double sculls, angry fists raised, this August 21, 2004 at the finish of their Olympic double sculls final. MAXPPP/DPA – Gero Breloer

Athens 2004: “Nothing could happen to us”

"In rowing, you need blind confidence in your teammate and in what you are capable of doing. I think that in Athens we were so united that nothing could happen to us."

In a few very strong words, Adrien Hardy sets out the level of preparation and ambition that inhabited him and his friend Sébastien Vieilledent in 2004. The challenge was daunting: to beat the Slovenian title holders and the Italian crew, the overwhelming favorite who had won all the regattas of the season by more than three seconds in advance.

During the semi-final, the Italians' lead barely exceeded one second. Above all, the French staff noticed that the favorites broke up in the last 300 m. "We were therefore instructed to put pressure on them from the start, says Adrien. We said to ourselves that we could go and get them. "

Heavy responsibility for Adrien, 26 years old, swimming leader, facing the start, with his 28 year old friend. The marriage of water and fire between the very calm Gardois and the much more extroverted Cannes . "Our relationship and our strength were built around these differences, assures the Gardois. Then, in rowing it is touch and synchronization that make me difference."  And technically, the French had no equivalent then.

This dream race is told by Adrien: "The Italians started in front as usual, we were strong at the start, patient and aggressive like the Slovenes. 500 m from the line I had to get information on our competitors on the left. I see the three boats almost lined up even though I expected to be a length behind. There, I said "they are dead". We had kept enough to catch up on a length. On the contrary, we dug deeper and finished 3 seconds ahead of the Slovenes. Huge!"

The voice of the Nîmes, clad in gold and crowned with an olive wreath, will then resonate with joy subdued with disbelief: "I can't find the words. We generally only experience Olympic gold vicariously, on TV."A title dedicated to his coach Jean-Raymond Peltier and to the club of his beginnings, in Beaucaire, devastated by floods in early 2004.

"It's not enough to be the best, you have to be ready on the big day"

Refurbished and inaugurated at the end of 2023, the Gard base still bears his name, like that of Chalons-sur-Saone where he rebuilt his life and completed his medals: two world titles in 2003 and 2006 and a European coronation in eight (2008) in addition to the consecration of 2004.

Also read: In Beaucaire, a bright future announced for the new version of the Adrien Hardy nautical base

"That day of the final, in Athens, we had made the boat slide wonderfully", remembers Adrien, forever marked by a title whose significance he would only appreciate four years later.

Adrien Hardy and Sébastien Vieilledent on the Athenian podium, olive wreath on their heads. MAXPPP/DPA – Achim Scheidemann

"Olympic gold is truly the Holy Grail, for oneself, but also in the eyes of others. It's not enough to be the best. You have to be ready on the big day. And I measured that in 2008, in Beijing, when I was the favorite in the double sculls with Jean-Baptiste Maquet and we didn't win. finished only 5th."

Rowing to treat scoliosis

Adrien regularly returns to his Gard lands to savor memories coated with nostalgia when he visits his parents in Jonquières-Saint-Vincent. Where, when he was 12 years old, a doctor recommended swimming or rowing to treat scoliosis, he who had just finished four years of choir with the  "Little singers with the wooden cross".

Sometimes, destiny is kind to him, because rowing has seduced him with "this feeling of mastery over his life. an element that earthlings do not have, the joyful pleasure of gliding on the water."

"From Sydney to London, I experienced four superb Olympics" 

While his former friend Sébastien Vieilledent has become DTN, the Gardois strives to share this pleasure today with the young people of the Chalons club, &amp ;quot;rather in a consulting role because the coaching position would take up too much of my time." In charge of managing source stations in Burgundy at Enedis, father of two girls and a boy, Adrien has a well-booked agenda for those in his forties.

He will be a consultant this summer for France TV in this Olympic year which "every four years serves as a showcase for our disciplines." In 2004, after his title, an increase in licensees of 10 to 15% was observed."But it’s complicated to take off with only 300 to 350 clubs, he concedes. You need a pool, which is quite rare in Occitanie."

Consultant for France TV

He stacks again. Already a consultant on the Tokyo 2021 Olympics, Adrien Hardy will once again commentate on the rowing events of the Paris Olympics and Paralympics for France Télévision with Montpellier journalist Hélène Macurdy.

"We got along very well and complemented each other, I introduced her to the keys to rowing", welcomes Adrien Hardy.

The Gardois wants to be "optimistic" for the French rowers while five boats have obtained their ticket for the Games. "I’can imagine at least three medals, especially with the double scull who will defend his title and can hope to keep it."

The events will take place in Vaires-sur-Marne.  The five qualified French boats are the men's and women's double sculls, the men's and women's lightweight double sculls and the men's coxless four.

But there is no question of doubting the success of these Games: "I find the criticism before its time very regrettable. I have experienced four Olympic Games, from Sydney to London, each time everything was ready in cities magnified by the event. And then the Games are meetings, the melting pot, fraternity, mutual aid. We are going to experience extraordinary moments."

It will then be time to look at his son Simon, 12 years old, who has just taken up rowing in his father's footsteps. To rewrite history? Who knows…hellip;

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