“Above all, I wanted to write to share my story and help other people”

Guest of the franceinfo “Club info”, Anaïs Quemener talks about her fight against breast cancer and her next sporting goals.

“Above all, I wanted to write this book to share my story and help other people”confides Sunday April 21 in the “Club info” of franceinfo Anaïs Quemener, marathon runner and author of All I wanted to do was run, published on April 3, 2024 by Flammarion. Anaïs Quemener, 33, learned at the age of 24 that she had breast cancer and never stopped playing sport.

“I continued to run after each chemotherapy, during radiotherapy and quickly after my operations as soon as I could return to sport”explains the marathon runner who ensures it: “It did me a lot of good”. She talks about sport as a “therapy”of a “moment of escape” where she had “the feeling of being the ‘Anaïs’ from before who wasn’t sick”.

After the treatments, Anaïs Quemener won the French marathon championships. A feat that she considers “a revenge”. “My goal – beyond healing – was to get back to my previous level because I have always been passionate about sport and running. My victory one year after my cancer in the Tours marathon was real revenge on cancer.”she explains.

In her book, she also talks about those who supported her like her father who is also her coach: “It’s important to talk about them, because we don’t talk about caregivers too often even though it’s also part of the treatment.”

In 2023, Anaïs Quemener was the first French woman in the Berlin marathon, which she ran in 2 hours 29 minutes and 1 second. In February, she finished the Seville marathon in 2 hours 28 minutes and 43 seconds. The sportswoman now dreams of one day participating in the Olympic Games, “why not for 2028 ?”she smiled.