With the Summer Games in Paris next year, the athletes have returned to a more normal Olympic cycle, that is to say, as always, different from the others.
“We would have fallen into the trap if we had thought that after the Tokyo Games, we could return to a routine,” said Roger Archambault, vice-president of performance services at the Institut national du sport du Québec (INS). Each of the Games is different. Each country is looking for ways to do even better than last time. It forces you to reinvent yourself every time. The only constant in elite sport is change. »
Housed in the base of the mast of the Olympic Stadium in Montreal, the INS is the flagship of the elite sports development system in Quebec, with its vast sports facilities and its small army of experts and scientists who work around some 570 high-level athletes, 2,200 up-and-coming athletes and 820 coaches.
The COVID-19 pandemic and its cortege of sanitary measures had upset its operation, in particular in preparation for the last Summer Olympics in Tokyo in 2021 and Winter Olympics in Beijing last year. Among other things, it had to deal with the incessant changes in health rules and often more severe in Canada than elsewhere, social distancing measures which went so far as to force athletes to stay at home as well as the impossibility of participating in international competitions supposed to allow them to qualify for the Games.
Each sport has its own rules for qualifying for the Olympics. In judo, athletes have been accumulating valuable points for a year now to carve out a place for themselves next year in Paris, explained at the end of last month Antoine Valois-Fortier, who participated in the last three Games as a judoka and who is now the head coach of the Canadian team.
“Things have gone pretty well. We think we can qualify three girls and four boys. But nothing is won. Everything has to be done. Many important competitions are yet to come,” he said at the time. Duty from Ulaanbaatar, Mongolia, where the Canadians had just taken part in a competition and were planning to stay another week before making a detour to Japan to train with these great powers of their sport.
Shortened Olympiad
The next year will require a skilful management of the calendar in order to perfectly coordinate the stages of the preparation of the athletes, the competitions and the training camps abroad, and the adjustments that will have to be made according to the progress of each. “I wouldn’t say that things will be simpler than for the Tokyo Games,” observed Antoine Valois-Fortier. Maybe just more familiar. »
As COVID postponed the holding of the last Summer Games by one year, the preparation period for the Paris Games (Olympiad) only lasts three years instead of four. “That leaves less time for young people who are rising to carve out a place there,” observes Roger Archambault, who will be in his eighth Games as a coach, team leader or manager. It is important the first participation in the Games, because experience shows that successes often come at the second or third Games. »
Conversely, it is likely that this shorter interval will convince athletes nearing retirement to stay in the running for one last time. This is what happened when the Albertville and Lillehammer Winter Games were held just two years apart, in 1992 and 1994.
“In any case, it’s sure that it had a motivating power,” he said. When the next Games are only three years away, it makes the goal more tangible and helps to stay focused. »
The lessons of the pandemic
The experience of Tokyo and Beijing has made it possible to draw several lessons which will be applied in Paris. Contrary to initial fears, the many disruptions caused by the pandemic did not lead to cheap performances. In particular, the enforced break periods allowed athletes to heal their injuries and focus on their preparation. The wide variation in sanitary rules from one place to another also made it possible to realize that there could be different ways of preparing for the same Games.
Antoine Valois-Fortier gives the example of the final preparation of the last six weeks before the start of the Games. “We now know that we have all the necessary tools in Montreal and that we don’t have to go and scatter outside. It will allow us to offer a more pleasant environment, which will involve less travel and which will give the same results. »
Already a priority at the INS, the well-being of athletes has become a subject of greater attention in the world of elite sport with the pandemic, particularly in terms of mental health, notes Roger Archambault. COVID has also accelerated the development of remote supervision and training technologies, the use of virtual environments and the use of artificial intelligence. “I’ve been in the business for more than 30 years and I’m still fascinated by the continuous and dazzling evolution of the sport. It’s incredible. »
Meeting in Paris
The athletes who will have the chance to participate in the Olympic Games in Paris will have to adapt to all sorts of things. “It could be very hot. Maybe not as much as in Tokyo, but still very hot”, says Roger Archambault. And then, those who will not be Olympic athletes for at least eight years will also have to learn to deal with the pressure of the crowds of spectators at the Games, the logistical headache of moving from one site to another and the risk of catching a virus the day before the competition. “There were advantages, in Tokyo, to participating in the Games without spectators, in a health bubble, in a city practically in confinement. »
Antoine Valois-Fortier took advantage, in February, of the holding of a competition in Paris to take a look at the place where the Olympic judo competition will be held next summer. Erected in 2021, at the end of the Champ-de-Mars facing the Eiffel Tower, to serve as an exhibition and event venue during the renovation of the Grand Palais, the “ephemeral Grand Palais” is an imposing temporary wooden structure which will be transformed, during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, into a sports amphitheater. “I don’t mean to brag, but I believe we will have the best competition venue of all the Games. »
It will not, of course, be at the Nippon Budokan, the temple of judo in Japan, like at the Tokyo Games, he admits. But the public will be admitted this time. And judo is one of the most popular sports in France. “I expect it to be very spectacular and to have a lot of atmosphere. »
And then, the Olympic Games in Paris, it will not be trivial, underlines the judoka who participated, and even won a bronze medal, at those of London, in 2012, before going to Rio, four years later, then in Tokyo. “A bit like in London, I believe that we will be entitled to major Games in Paris. From all points of view. Well organized, unique and sensational. »