Two years from the 2024 Olympic Games, which will take place in Paris, Auriane Mallo feels ready. Alas, for lack of sponsors, this fencer from Lyon and fencer in the France team cannot train properly. Between her work as a physiotherapist, training and competitions, the 28-year-old young woman is now fighting against time… and money.
Difficult to prepare properly without sponsors: despite a good track record, the fencer struggles to find any. In February, she won a team world championship title in Barcelona, and finished second individually. “Each time, people tell me that my background is interesting, that it’s nice to see that it’s possible to get this far… but you never want to put in any money,” she says.
Fencing pays… if you get paid
Already helped by the Lyon real estate agency 6e Sens, the support of one or more other companies would allow the Lyon athlete to devote herself fully to fencing. As a young mother, her pace of life is very fast: “I work four mornings a week, and I continue with training,” she sums up.
Ironically, since the creation of the Olympic Games, fencing has been the sport that has won France the most medals: 119 medals, including 42 gold. “We always want to support when people have achieved results. But we forget that before the Games, there is work upstream, recalls the fencer. If we are not financially stable to achieve our objectives, it is more complicated. »
The sponsors would be rewarded in turn
However, out of the question to give up for the one who found the highest level only two months after the birth of her first child. “I don’t know if I’m fighting for two, but I tell myself that I’m not leaving my son at home to go pick daisies! she laughs.
Being a strong woman and an outstanding competitor, these are the values she wants to be able to share with her sponsor. For Auriane Mallo, a sponsorship contract would also be an opportunity to have a “real exchange” with the company: “I’m looking for support for my project as an athlete mother who proves that you can succeed, even with had a baby,” she says.
If she were supported to the tune of 23,000 euros per year, the fencer admits that she would be “more serene financially”. Auriane promises to highlight the companies that will help her: “Nothing prevents me, after the Games, from telling journalists that I was supported by so and so,” she underlines.