She understood straight away… Without even waiting for the result of the Australian Jakara Anthony to appear on the scoreboard, the last to start Sunday evening in the women’s mogul ski final and future gold medalist, Perrine Laffont, haggard-eyed, heads straight for his clan. It is then necessary that an official catches her by the arm to remind her that, even if it is hard, she must first pass in front of the journalists, in the mixed zone of Zangjiakou. It’s 9 p.m. sharp in China and the reigning Olympic champion has just given up her crown. The blow is all the more severe as the Ariègeoise is not even on the podium. It was played at a dust of hundredths of points: 77.36 against 77.72 for the Russian Anastasiia Smirnova. Hard…
Huge hope of tricolor medals of these Winter Olympics, “Pépette” has just fallen from above, from very high. And with her a good part of the French delegation massed at the foot of the track for a good two hours, including Martin Fourcade and Guy Drut (without cap, big respect). It is therefore forced and forced that the gold medalist in Pyeongchang turns around and goes to the media area, to suffer the final affront of eating the France TV rocker in the face. The kid does not flinch, which in itself would be enough to give her the medal of stoicism.
You finish 4th in the race you’ve been waiting for the most, you’re mentally exhausted and you’re still asked to wait for a channel change.
The legendary France TV seesaw like in Tokyo this summer.
— Scipio (@Scipionista) February 6, 2022
The competition was a (good) notch above
Deep down, she knows she didn’t pull out the right run when she should have. “It’s not the result we wanted and it’s hard,” she says in the mixed zone. I didn’t manage to ski like I did in qualifying, to relax. It’s still the Olympics, they’re one-day races and it happens. I don’t know what happened throughout the evening, when training went well. Nothing to do with the frustration – some would say disgust – felt the day before with Benjamin Cavet’s fourth place, not far from being stolen by the judges in favor of the Japanese Ikuma Horishima. In any case, it was the feeling that emerged from the French mogul ski team on Sunday morning.
No, for the fallen champion, there is not much to regret in the end, the competition was simply stronger than four years ago in South Korea and her opponents were above this year. It’s sport, she accepts it. However, the Frenchwoman used to take us from behind and slam third runs from behind the snowflakes that no one saw coming. We even wanted to believe it when we saw her clap her coach’s hands vigorously, just before starting, as we tumble onto a floor before game 7 of an NBA final. In the background, Scarface’s music “Listen to the limit” lent itself rather well to the situation. Pity.
“I’m going to need a good break!” »
Four years ago, just after Pyeongchang, “Pépette” had a hard time digesting this notoriety that had become too heavy a weight to bear. She even thought for a while of dropping everything and moving on. Finally, by refocusing solely on the notion of pleasure, as she will recount later in a documentary (available on YouTube), the hard worker had been able to find the gnac to prepare for these 2022 Olympics. Today, this experience will help her to pass this painful moment.
“When I wanted to stop everything in 2019, I promised myself not to make myself sick anymore with sport. I understood that there was more important, all the love that I have around me, ”she confides before, precisely, to find the tricolor clan and to be buried under the blue hugs which comfort . But before leaving, with a newfound smile, she admits: “I think I’m going to need a good break! “. Take all your time, Perrine, Milan is only four years from now.