Toulouse. The ambitions of Léon Marchand and Ugo Didier, the medalists of the last swimming worlds
By Sarah Gilot
Published on
The first created the feat during the last World Swimming Championships in Budapest (Hungary) by winning two gold medals in the 200 and 400 m medley, and achieving the second best performance in the world in the 400 m. The second won silver in four disciplines at the June 2022 Para-Swimming Worlds in Portugal.
Awarded by the Department
Leon Marchand and Ugo Didier both met at the Departmental Council of Haute-Garonne, Monday, July 11, 2022. Invited to each receive a medal from the Department, they were able to meet young swimmers from clubs where they rehearsed: the TOEC Dolphins club and the young people from the Cercle des nageurs de Cugnaux (Haute Garonne).
Media coverage, a difficult point
After that encounter, the 20-year-old swimmers called each other out on their “difficult” beginnings on the media spectrum. Because becoming a medalist overnight is accompanied by an exposure to which athletes are not always accustomed.
“I had a lot of requests for interviews after the June Worlds, and I had a hard time managing everything. What makes that I am mislaid in my professional and personal objectives”, entrusts Ugo Didier “today, all is better and I am well accompanied but at the beginning it was very complicated”.
A situation that Léon Marchand also experienced. He who decided to take a little rest, explains the power to “take advantage” of this time for interview requests. Although it wasn’t always easy.
“I live well this mediatization, better and better even. But at first it’s difficult, when you’re not used to it. »
“I am not a star in the United States”
The swimmer has been training since 2020 in the United States, in Arizona, with the former coach of Michael Peps, Bob Bowman. A change of continent which allows him to be far from requests, “in the United States, I am less known than in France, I am not the star there. »
Paris 2024 in sight
“Your future goal in sight? The answer is similar for the two medalists: the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. The competition will be the next important step for their achievements. “In 2024, we will be at the height of our career, so we will be keen to perform at the Olympics,” says Ugo Didier.
“We are starting training now, we have two years ahead of us. In Paris, I will be ready”, discovered Léon Marchand.
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