Any final year teacher will repeat it to their students: it is better to be consistent all year round and ride on this dynamic when passing the baccalaureate, rather than relying entirely on talent in front of the blank sheet in June, at the risk of losing everything . Well, in high-level sport, not only do you have to be good all season and, moreover, not fail during the tyrannical Olympic qualifying tournaments (TQO), like the one experienced by French 3×3 basketball players (only team of sport co not yet qualified) from May 3 to 5 in Japan, otherwise bye-bye the Games.
Often, it is not enough to be among the best in the world to get your ticket to the Olympics, you also have to contend with these tournaments where the reaper lurks at the slightest misstep. “Pfff, the TQOs are something,” recalls Laurent Tillie. The pressure is ten times greater than elsewhere, even than in a world medal match. If we don’t make the cut, it’s over, and it’s a four-year dream that goes under our noses. This is the hardest to manage. »
“Inhuman as a tournament”
The former coach of the French volleyball team knows something about it. For the Olympic Games in Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2021), he passed through the TQO box three times (two in 2016). Twice, he and his team escaped with an Olympic qualification, but not without suffering. “During the first TQO, in which we did not qualify, we played five matches in five days against the best European teams, and we failed in the final,” he adds. It was an inhumane tournament. »
Wrestler Koumba Larroque also had complicated nights during the TQOs for the Rio Games in 2016, which she did not manage to compete in:
“ I was paralyzed by what was at stake, it was very stressful, very distressing. We had to finish in the first two, and in the two TQOs, I finished third. If you meet the strongest in the category in the first round, you don’t necessarily come second, it’s a very special pressure. The stakes are a little different, and there are always special things happening. But, mentally, we know it’s going to be war. »
TQOs one month before the Games
A war that can last over time and torture you mentally for many months if you fail to quickly qualify. Because it is not uncommon to find Olympic qualifying tournaments very close to the Games. “The TQOs are late, March-April-May, so that doesn’t leave much time to prepare for the Games afterwards,” says Koumba Larroque, who this time obtained his precious ticket in September, after the Worlds.
Worse still for the archers, who were entitled to a TQO just one month before the Tokyo Olympics in 2021. “Given the date of the competition, we prepared as if we were going to the Games,” explains the archer Thomas Chirault. The strategy was, we go for it, we give everything as if we were going there. This TQO was an added value in this dream of the Olympics, because the dream begins to qualify. »
The notion of a dream that continues also comes back to Laurent Tillie, who collapsed in tears after validating his qualification, in Berlin, against Germany, for the Tokyo Olympics. “Everything has given way, I have emptied myself,” the man who coaches the Panasonic Panthers… in Japan smiles today. The dream continued and did not stop. When you qualify by miracle, especially after this half [les Bleus étaient menés 2-0], I see all the difficulties, the traps we went through. »
“Might as well go through the TQO”
As the director of Insep, former judoka Fabien Canu, sums it up, the TQO is “being there on the big day at the right time. It’s a habit to get into, and that’s what we recognize the champions.” “The pressure inevitably comes at a given moment, so you have to adapt to the qualifying method,” adds Laurent Tillie. In sport, we have to have pressure matches, so we might as well go through the TQOs, because we get used to them. »
Despite everything, for these Games at home, a good number of French athletes, being automatically qualified as citizens of the host country, do not have the obligation to fade these Russian roulette tournaments and can therefore better refine their preparation. To the point of really relaxing?
“It’s clearly one less weight to bear until the Games,” assures Thomas Chirault. We train with another approach, directly for the big competition. We use this less weight to add to the preparation. It’s a bit like having extra time compared to others. » Less pressure and better preparation, which means we can aim for 80 medals this summer.