Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Valentin Porte assures him: “There is no arrangement or gift” with Guillaume Gille despite his international retirement
|L'international français réfléchissait à sa décision depuis un an. MAXPPP – Laurent Lairys
French team winger and right-back Valentin Porte looks back on his decision to retire internationally at the end of the season at the age of 33, and assures that he won't 39;there is no "arrangement or gift" with Guillaume Gille for a future selection for the Olympic Games with the Blues.
Why did you choose to announce the end of your international career between two matches for the Blues ?
I wanted to do it there because it's a bit of a break week, I didn't want to do it at the end of the season. I thought it was good to do it here, in Montpellier, like that, I put it out of my head, it's recorded and it's good. And between two matches I don't know, as I was in the mixed zone yesterday, I didn't know if I was going to play the next match (laughs). It would have been a little less good too. Now I can focus on something else.
How did you announce it to Guillaume Gille and the team ?
I announced it to Guillaume a week before meeting, we spoke on the phone to do a little debrief of the competition. I told him my feelings, we talked and he understood. Concerning the team, I told them at the start of the internship like that, it was done. I just wanted to announce that my journey ends at the end of the season and like that, I'm square with everyone.
What were everyone's reactions ?
The coach understood my arguments, even if he hadn't understood I didn't care a bit because it was my decision. I'm straight in my sneakers, I go wherever I want and that's how I've always worked. I expected him to understand, he understood it and at the same time it allows him to prepare for the future too. The group had no particular reaction, I spoke with a few elders but there was nothing. I didn't expect anything, it's just the life of a sports team, some arrive, others leave.
What did you say to yourself when you got home from the Euro ?
My questioning started before. But the Euro reassured me in the idea that this end of the season was the right time. I see a group that has been evolving for quite some time now, gaining maturity and winning titles. This generation is really taking shape and maturity. Which reassures me in the idea that I, coming from the older generation, it is time to turn the page and make way for the young.
When did your thinking begin ?
It's been a year since I started thinking about it, about when the right time would be. I gave myself time to see. And then from internship to internship, from competition to competition, I saw things evolve in the right direction as far as the group is concerned. I still have a role that is more and more complicated for me, because it is different from the one I have in a club where I have a lot of responsibilities with a pace that suits me. allows you to be efficient. In the French team, it's a completely different rhythm and I find it difficult to fully express myself. If I have to have this role, it will be harder and harder for me. So that's why I prefer to leave my place to young people who are more capable of fulfilling this role correctly.
Back in Montpellier, winger in the French team, there it became complicated ?
It's getting harder and harder. It's not just the fullback position, it's everything that it brings: the responsibilities, the playing time which allows me to get into rhythm and in the red. In everything I do, even at padel, I need to be in the red to perform well. When I find myself in an exclusive winger position, when I do fewer things on the pitch, as soon as I receive a ball it's more complicated to find good sensations. I'm going to work on this to perform even better at the end of the season, but it will stop there because I don't see myself continuing like this later. Because it’s still complicated.
You were talking about passing the baton, it's due to competition, weariness, age ?
Weariness no, because I'm going to play handball for years to come. I'm coming out of two weeks at a club where I was very good while with the French team it was complicated. But yes, there is also the emergence of younger players who are gaining maturity and becoming very efficient. I feel that the more things go, the less people will need me, so that's also why I decided to stop. If I felt that it was still a little fragile, I could have continued. But today, the France team is in good hands. The performance will be there so I have no worries about withdrawing. Now, I would like to perform as well as in a club…
Which can also happen in the event of a physical problem within the workforce…
That's what I told the coach. I'm going to take a step back and retire at the end of the season. I hope that won't happen, but if tomorrow, during the competition or a training course, he has 800 injured people and he wants to call on me, obviously I will respond if necessary. troubleshoot. He can count on me. But if he can not do it, that's okay too.
Aren't you afraid that this announcement will endanger your selection for the Olympic Games ?
I am not selfish and I want to make that clear. I didn't say that I was doing the Games and I was stopping. I said I would stop at the end of the season. If I make the Games it's magnificent it will end on a very beautiful note. If I'm not selected, that's life and that's how it is. I'm not selfish and I never said to Guillaume: “We're doing something, you take me to the Games and then I'll stop.” There are no arrangements or gifts. I am selectable, if you do it I'm happy, otherwise it's because you've found something better. I accept it, it's part of the life of an athlete. My goal is to show what I can do and be on this team for the Olympics. If this is not the case, I will respect this choice as I have always done and it will not prevent me from sleeping.
Why do you think you have your place in this group of 14 at the Olympics ?
That’s a good question (laughs). I think I have my place as much as I can not have it. I know that if I work on myself and perform well in the role given to me, I am selectable and potentially legitimate to play. Because I have always given my best, I can help out everywhere and defend. Whether you give me one minute of playing time or 60, I will give that much. But there are also other players who are very, very good, who can do this job and that's the game of selection. It's up to me to be as efficient as possible so as not to have regrets.
Especially since we saw, with Vincent Gérard, that the experience in this team is important in the eyes of the coach ?& nbsp;
Yes, obviously the French team often works like that. Experience and lived experience are important. Vincent, it's a little different: many quickly buried him but I appreciate him very much and I know his quality. It's not because he's had a complicated year and he's returning to Istres that he's no longer a very good goalkeeper. He showed against Argentina that he was still very, very good and that he could more than do the job. Now, I know that experience and experience will help me but it's up to me to show on the ground that I am capable of doing good things.
Finishing with Nikola Karabatic and Vincent Gérard, it's something important to close this book French team ?
If we are in a world of care bears, which high-level sport or the French team is not, I am taken for the Games with Vincent and Niko, we win the medal of' #39;or, everyone kisses each other, we part ways there and it’s magnificent. But we are not here to please and give gifts, I am aware of that. Of course my dream would be to finish in a competition in France, the Olympic Games, and moreover with real friends with whom I have shared these competitions for 11 years. It's a dream, we'll see if it comes true or not.
There is a little time left, but what do you think of the mark you left in the French team ?
(He giggles). Honestly, that's not what matters to me the most but rather, when it stops, and today it does, I can look at myself in the mirror and tell myself that I can be proud of myself. I started my career with a mindset and values, and I've kept them the whole time. I did not deviate from the rule, I tried to respond, to do what was asked of me, to be as efficient as possible. This is what will make me the most proud no matter what. Afterwards, there are people who love you, others who don't, even for the oldest. I don't care about other people's views, but not mine about my career and that those close to me can be proud of me.
You have a contract running until 2027 with Montpellier, have you thought about that or is it still too far away ?& nbsp;
Oh no, it's too far. Today, I feel very good, I am performing well. I have always said that, as long as I enjoy playing handball in Montpellier or elsewhere… 2027 is a long time away, we will see what state I will be in, where the club will be . But I will hold on until then. I would like to finish my contract in Montpellier because I have always respected my contracts. We will see what the future holds but in 2027 I will get older, so we will see if I feel like continuing to play, if the pleasure is still there when I play. survey. Stopping the French team will also allow me to concentrate fully on the club, to have a little more time for myself and perhaps that will make me feel better. good.