Swimming Worlds: former Montpellier Marc-Antoine Olivier will not participate in the 800m freestyle final

Déçu, mais pas abattu. XinHua – Xue Yuge

L'ancien montpelliérain Marc-Antoine Olivier et son compatriote Damien Joly ont été éliminés dès les séries du 800 m nage libre, ce mardi 13 février à Doha, et ne disputeront donc pas la finale des Championnats du monde. 

Disillusionment in Qatar for the French. Damien Joly and Marc-Antoine Olivier achieved the 20th and 33rd times in the series respectively, far from the leader, the Italian Luca de Tullio (7 min 46 sec 52/100).

"I'm disappointed I came here to do this. I didn't have the level, I didn't have the freshness, reacted Joly, who still has to compete in the 1500 m. "I had bet on this competition for a rehearsal before the Olympics. There, it was hard from the start, I'm not physically fresh enough."

Determined and confident for the Olympic Games

Marc-Antoine Olivier, double silver medalist in open water last week, will now devote himself entirely to this discipline.

"Open water is still a separate job, it works well and I think there will be a nice thing to do to do in Paris,” he said.

At the beginning of February, the Frenchman was cleared by the anti-doping chamber of the CAS (Court of Arbitration for Sport) of his three breaches of whereabouts obligations (no-show). 

The reigning world champion, Tunisian Ahmed Hafnaoui, will also miss the final scheduled for Wednesday. Already out in the 400m heats on Sunday, this time he achieved the 18th time in the 800m.