From our special envoy to China,
Ah that, to criticize Mark Zuckerberg, there’s a lot of people. But to salute Facebook’s contribution to the development of women’s bobsleigh in France, it’s less rushed. Yes, if the French team is going for the very first time in its history to be represented in the women’s two-man bobsleigh at the Winter Olympics, Friday, around 8 p.m. (local time) at the Yanqing National Sliding Center , it’s a bit thanks to the multi-billionaire from White Plains. We rewind.
In 2018, the young tobogganer (and former gymnast) Margot Boch is painfully recovering from her non-qualification by the Ice Sports Federation for the Pyeongchang Olympics. Never mind, instead of brooding in her corner, the girl decides to “turn this failure into a strength” and embark on a totally crazy project: to create a women’s bobsleigh team in a country that has none. has been well known for more than ten years.
On the advice of an athletic trainer from La Plagne, she then opened her laptop and sent a message on Facebook to Carla Sénéchal, then fully into athletics (sprint), to offer her to embark with her in his mess. “She could have run off,” she laughs. But it’s just the opposite that will happen.
“I was on vacation when I received this famous message from a certain Margot Boch, whom I did not know at all, remembers the pusher Carla Sénéchal. I was completely cut off from sport because it was during the break from athletics. I was super surprised at the time, of course, but very quickly the excitement took over. I couldn’t believe it because I had always wanted to do bobsleigh and I didn’t know who to contact. So I jumped at the chance, it was unexpected! “.
A crazy project carried out at arm’s length
Because the bobsleigh is a discipline that requires rounds. Beeeea lot of circles. We are talking about 50,000 euros just for the bobsleigh, to which must be added travel to be able to slide in competition on the twenty or so tracks that exist in Europe. On arrival, a season therefore fluctuates between 80,000 and 100,000 euros. And to find them, it is not enough to knock on the door of the FFSG with your mouth in flower. “At first it was very complicated, for some it can even be scary, admits Carla Sénéchal. But as we were stubborn and obstinate, we did everything to make our dream come true. The first year we had no funding, just a little help from CBLS [Club de bobsleigh de la Plagne] and the federation, but everything else had to be funded. »
So Margot Boch set off with her little A4 shirt under her arm to convince local businesses to follow her on her crazy adventure. The family being well known in the area – his grandfather and his dad had a small career in the bobsleigh – this facilitates the process. “We were lucky because the locals helped us, they knew Margot and they had confidence in her project. But you shouldn’t be afraid and believe in it until the end. “For her part, she continues, “the federation asked us to make perfs, podiums in the European Cup, to support us fully. With hindsight we understand, it’s normal that we have to prove ourselves to be followed. »
But at the time, the bobeuses do not hide it, they sometimes had the impression of being taken for funny. Carla Sénéchal, still: “The first two years were so hard that we asked ourselves a lot of questions. We wondered if we were really supported, if they believed in us. We had the impression that we had no credibility in the eyes of others, it was really not easy. »
To the point of considering for a time competing under the Monegasque banner, the team being trained by an old acquaintance of Margot Boch’s dad, Bruno Mingeon, world champion in 1999 and only medal-winning French bobsledder history at the Olympic Games, in bronze, in Nagano. “But our colors are white, blue and red and we really wanted to represent our country,” says the pusher.
And come what may !
Once the money has been collected, they are off in their little truck to criss-cross Europe in search of results and credibility. With a key word, according to Boch, “the D system”. “The first season we did everything on our own since we didn’t have a coach,” she describes. We drove the truck, we wore our bucket hats, we slept in youth hostels”. Travel the shape, it seems. Then came the first results and, with them, the recognition of the environment. “In the beginning. Everyone asked us if we were twin sisters, as we are blondes with blue eyes, with small builds, which is rare in a bob, remembers Carla Sénéchal. And our complicity made them believe that we had known each other forever.
Seeing that the project was taking shape, that the two girls were not the type to joke – “and that we had potential”, smiles Boch -, his parents definitely decide to embark on the ship and sell their car to buy a quality Latvian bucket hat at 50,000 euros. From then on, no more camtar road trips, unworthy of two athletes with top 10 ambitions in Beijing. From now on, it will be the plane for the Boch-Sénéchal girls duo, and the road to transport the monster for the Boch-Sénéchal fathers duo. “They were great, they took over at the wheel during the big trips so that we could rest”, appreciates the Savoyard.
And if their parents obviously never demanded anything in return, the bobeuses still feel indebted. “Despite the impediments that we were put in the wheels on our way, despite all the obstacles that we had to cross, each time we got up and they were always there, concludes Boch. They believed in us and we hope that we will give it back to them by doing four very good pushes, the best of our lives, and four good runs”. We won’t miss this for the world.