Paris 2024 Olympic Games: “When you put a pole in my hand, I manage to do things that many thought unimaginable”, Lavillenie, last Olympic dream

Renaud Lavillenie at the All Star Perche in Clermont-Ferrand, of which he is the organizer. MAXPPP – Thierry Larret

At 37, the former pole vault world record holder hopes to attempt "the'impossible" : qualify for his last Olympic Games.   

Halfway between his hamstring operation and the 2024 Olympics for which he hopes to qualify at age 37, Renaud Lavillenie says he is within the planned passage times. “If there's anyone who can do it, it's him", believes star pole vaulter Mondo Duplantis.

Five months after having undergone surgery for a partial rupture of a tendon in the hamstrings of his left thigh, the 2012 Olympic champion and former world record holder in the jump the pole has just put its tips back on in training. "It's a positive step, not negligible, because you are not going to t' have fun running in spikes when you're broken, you're sore everywhere and you're worthless", says Lavillenie, in the shoes of the& #39;chief organizer of his pole vault meeting in Clermont-Ferrand last week.

"This leads to the next stage, the resumption of the pole, he continues. I don't have an exact date yet. But it's progressing well, I'm on schedule, even slightly ahead of schedule, it's pretty cool." " With my coach, the physiotherapist, we are confident. Not very confident, but in any case, there is no stopping and that's something important, sums up the five-time world medalist.

Race against time

Despite everything, the five months that separate him from his Olympic goal seem like a race against time for Lavillenie, who will have to clear 5.82 m before the deadline of June 30 to get there. invite you to the Parisian high mass (July 26-August 11), in one of the rare disciplines where French athletics has more contenders than available tickets.

It's not going to be easy. He knows it's going to take a lot of effort.

"It's going to be hard, notes Duplantis, the heir to the French pole vaulter, who came very close to carrying the world record at 6.24 m last week. If there's anyone who can do it, it's Renaud. But it's not going to be easy. He knows it's going to take a lot of effort." "But I think he will do things the right way, intelligently: he will make the right decisions, he will be patient, not rush things, and make sure he chooses the right places to try to qualify", takes up the Swedish phenomenon.

“As long as he can run, he can do it, as long as he's fit, he can do it. He doesn't even have to be 100%, just fit enough to do that. Because technically, he's been jumping for so long that he'll regain his sensations with the pole like that, said Duplantis, snapping his fingers. Very easily. He just needs speed."

Return to competition at the end of May

Return to competition at the end of May – Lavillenie is aiming for a return to competition at the end of May, perhaps the 28th in Ostrava, Czech Republic. A window of one month would then open for him to snatch his Olympic qualification – his fourth.

With "a competition every weekend, June 9 in Clermont-Ferrand, June 15 at Le Bourget, June 22 in Toulouse, and the French Championships (the 29th and 30 in Angers) < em >, a fairly interesting rhythm, he lists. This is the basic plan. Afterwards, we are ready to adapt at any time."

How does he approach tackling it after having jumped so little for a year and a half, he who we haven't seen in competition between mid-September 2022 and the end of May 2023 – its first missed winter season -, then since the end of last July ?

If anyone can do it, it's me

"It's not a situation we like to put ourselves in, agrees Lavillenie. But as some say, if there is one who can do it, it's me: no one imagined me breaking the world record and I did (6.16 m in 2014)." Invited to project oneself in such a perspective, "it would be hard, it requires a lot of mental strength", replies Duplantis.

"The pole, I like iti, summarizes Lavillenie. When I started again after five or six months off last year, I didn't ask myself any questions and everything came back naturally. When you put a pole in my hand, I can do things that many thought unimaginable. It's my asset."