Their sports and goals differ, but not their concerns, with a lifestyle based on physical activity and a schedule scheduled for months. Three top-level French athletes tell each week World their confinement: the judokate Madeleine Malonga, the cyclist Romain Bardet and the rugby player Antoine Dupont. Seventh episode of their notebooks, to be followed until the lifting of this sanitary measure against the epidemic due to the coronavirus.
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Madeleine Malonga: "For deconfinement, the watchwords are security and progressive adaptation"
MADELEINE MALONGA, 26 YEARS OLD, IS A WORLD JUDO CHAMPION IN THE 78 KG CATEGORY.
Last week, we had our meeting to find out the possible conditions for the resumption. We already know, following the first government announcements, that we will not resume judo activity in itself before June 2 …
Coronavirus is not only transported by touch, it can be present on surfaces. This would mean that the carpet, where you walk barefoot, should be disinfected all the time. It's impossible. And again, there we are talking for the moment only of the resumption of the Olympic group, reduced to twenty girls. Normally, there are fifty to sixty on the carpet.
If the minimum recovery goes well on Monday 11 May, we will all have to be tested. The French team doctor will organize this. Then, depending on the results, we will do physical tests during the second week to judge our state of fitness.
It is still uncertain, as we await the final decision on Thursday May 7 on deconfinement. The next day, the 8th, by videoconference, we will definitely know what it is for us.
It is not yet known, for example, whether the Insep will reopen. If this is the case, we will train physically in groups of less than ten people. A group may be on the mat, which is quite large, another in the weight room, another in the indoor stadium…
Our trainer reassured us on the hygiene rules that will be applied if the recovery is confirmed: social distancing, therefore, but also on the possibility of washing hands and on masks. The watchwords are safety and progressive adaptation.
I agree with all of this if all that has been said is respected. No one wants to be infected. We will have to be very serious. The thing that stresses me the most is that when we are outside the Insep, we will have to be very careful.
For the moment, we have been told that the resumption of judo in international competition is scheduled for September. We would have small competitions that would not count towards Olympic qualification. The points race would resume from November. All this will depend on the confinement of all, in France and abroad.
Monday May 11, if the deconfinement is well confirmed, my first action will be to go to the hairdresser: I made an appointment at 12 noon. And then I'll go see my parents. I'm lucky because they live 60 km by road, that is to say less than 100 km, which will be the limit of movement.
This weekend, I watched the first images of the deconfinement in Barcelona and I said to myself, " Oh my God ! »… There were a lot of people, but you must not become agoraphobic. Life has to start slowly.
Romain Bardet: "Paris-Roubaix, I really want to"
ROMAIN BARDET, 29 YEARS OLD, RIDER OF THE AG2R-LA MONDIALE TEAM, FINISHED TWICE ON THE PODIUM OF THE TOUR DE FRANCE.
We see the end! The timetable has been revealed, everything is starting to fall into place, even if it is not very certain and will depend on government decisions. I'm trying to see the bright side: something is emerging.
And if it goes as expected, we will be full in early November! Everyone will have it for them. At times, there will be a duplication and choices will have to be made, but for a runner like me, it's attractive. The shape that we are going to build on the Tour de France will be used on a magnificent classics program. Those who have raced the Tour will then have a real advantage over the Ardennes then Flanders classics.
This program can allow me to consider participating in paved classics. It is clear that the Tour of Flanders and Paris-Roubaix, I really want to participate and that it is difficult in normal season, during the preparation of the big tours. It’s during Vuelta, so there will be choices to be made, and we’ll see with the team how they organize their troops. But it is clear that I prefer to go after this very beautiful campaign of classics. It promises to be epic, with a greasy, wet pavement in late October.
Monday, even if the weather promises rain, there will be a lot of bikes on the roads. As far as I'm concerned, I won't really have a program. For one or two weeks, I will go on long outings, take pleasure in being outside, rebuilding a land base while enjoying the great outdoors, the meter in my pocket. At the beginning of June, we can build something more precise, coinciding, I hope, with the first meetings of the team.
During this confinement, I had the feeling of being conscientious but I did not accumulate the hours on the home trainer. Thirty hours a week, like Christopher Froome, three months from the competitions, it seemed difficult to sustain and I would not have seen the point. We take advantage of the period to work on different things, or to insist on points for which I have less time in season: my strengthening sessions, the time trial or my pedaling technique.
On the home trainer, we stay seated; however, in racing, I tend to always accelerate as a dancer. Having intensified buttocks on the saddle allows me to develop a new pedaling technique, a sector that I had abandoned. Likewise, I ride a track bike on which I do pedaling exercises, in one-legged, for example, which strengthen the deeper muscles. All of this should serve the long term.
Antoine Dupont: "A collective sport, nothing worse to transmit a virus"
ANTOINE DUPONT, 23 YEARS OLD, HALF OF THE BLUE MÉLÉE, IS FRANCE'S RUGBY CHAMPION IN TITLE WITH THE STADIUM TOULOUSAIN.
The club is starting to schedule medical tests. In principle, we, the players, will be tested from next week. Some in the clinic, others directly at the club, if I understood correctly. So at least we will be fixed.
In Castelnau, a village woman sells fabric masks which she sews herself. My mother bought me one, blue color. I put it on when I go shopping, but I hope I don’t have to wear it for training. Let's say it would be relatively impractical …
For the moment, precisely, we are still waiting to know the date of resumption of training. As such, I am well aware that this is not essential compared to other areas. If rugby teams train without having the right to play games before September, training now won't do much to the economy of the country or the clubs. Especially since there is nothing worse than a collective sport to transmit a virus! Because it only takes one or two of us to have the virus for the risk to exist for everyone afterwards.
We may have more information Thursday or Friday for our weekly update with all the players, the president and the staff. In general, it’s the president (Didier Lacroix) who speaks to explain the progress of the situation.
At the moment, we don't know either about a possible drop in wages for next season. I tell myself that if the club comes to ask us, it is a sign that it really has no other choice to avoid filing for bankruptcy. With high payrolls and no money coming in for several months, we are not immune to these thoughts.
For my part, I have a contract with the Toulouse stadium until 2023; I’m very good at it and I would hardly see myself elsewhere. We are a lot of young people to believe in a bright future for our club.
Since confinement, I’m trying to keep in touch with my agent. In professional rugby, it would be difficult for a player to do without today. Whether to renegotiate with his employer or to go and see with this or that other club, by the way.
I also work with a wealth manager. As my shoulder injury is a work accident (in March, during the Scotland-France match), I am not affected by the partial unemployment scheme. But I know a bunch of players have already called him to ask him questions …
