EDIT: We invite you to reread the portrait of Emma Jouteau as the BMX world championships open in Nantes, this Tuesday until Sunday. During the French championships, mid-July in Nantes, the rider finished 5th in the Elite/U23 race, finishing vice-champion of France U23. She also took 3rd place in Time Trial U23.
She will be at home, “in front of my whole family”, she smiles. And she can’t wait. Emma Jouteau, licensed at BMX Savenay in Loire-Atlantique and former resident of carquefou clubwill line up with the French BMX championships, which will take place at the Nantes exhibition center from July 15 to 17, then the world championships at the end of the month at the same location. At just 22 years old, Emma Jouteau is a specialist in Supercross, a discipline created by the UCI to make competitions more spectacular [départ d’une butte à 7-8 m et présence d’obstacles permettant des sauts plus long] and present at the Olympics. And she is one of the very best French women. “Currently, I am 1st in the U23s in the Coupes de France and 4th among the elites in the Coupes de France”, proudly lists this native of Angevine who spent a lot of her time in Nantes.
It must be said that when the young woman got on a BMX, she was tall as three apples. “I was six years old, says the one who is a kitchen clerk near Lyon. Basically, I wanted to do basketball and my older brother, three years older than me, motocross. And one day, my father took us both to see an initiation BMX demonstration in La Romagne near Angers. I had never heard of this sport. This moment will be decisive in the life of Emma Jouteau. “It’s been a real passion for more than fifteen years,” she confesses. I love the adrenaline that this sport provides. BMX allowed me to meet so many people too. And then, I’ve toured Europe several times over the past few years. I discovered the United States, Azerbaijan, etc. Over the years, Emma Jouteau has asserted herself as one of the best BMX riders at departmental, then regional, then national level. She rubs shoulders with the best. She offers herself a title of vice-champion of France cadets in 2016 or a 6th place at the world junior championships in 2018.
His mother never watches his shopping
The year 2019 marks the beginning of a big galley. “I seriously injured myself by breaking my hip and the whole pubic system on a fall. “A wound that is struggling to heal. “I’ve come across it several times. » The risks of this discipline… « BMX is an extreme sport. My mother never watches the races, admits Emma Jouteau. And my father has since feared that I would hurt myself again. »
Family anxiety does not slow the young woman down. Nor the absence of professional prospects for this discipline. “Among women, no one lives from it. And there are very few among men, maybe two or three. » At the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Anne-Caroline Chausson and Laetitia Le Corguillé scored a French double in the final of the women’s BMX event. A fleeting spotlight. Immediately on, almost immediately off, even if a small boom among the licensed girls is felt in the weeks after the Olympics. Those of Paris in 2024 would also be a culmination for Emma Bouteau. “It remains in the objective and dream box at the same time”, concludes the resident of the Savenay club.