Edgar Boulet, gymnast from Orleans, specialist in the horizontal bar and the floor, is turning a new page. After two years of deep discomfort, marked by depression, alcohol, a total abandonment of gymnastics, the European bronze medalist with the France team in 2018 goes up the slope and regains its place in high-level sport.
In June 2020, you announced your retirement. Behind this decision hid a descent into hell. What happened ?
This is something that is quite complicated because there are a lot of factors that come into play. Whether it is sports failures, but also personal failures. So, it’s a bit of a whole which means that at a given moment, there is a fed up that is expressed. I was really at the bottom and at some point you have to get up well. I think it worked well and now, from my experience and all these events that made me fall into depression, I now have a little bit of experience and that allows me to be able to face similar events in a different way.
You resumed competition in March, for the Top 12, the French team championship. What enabled you to get back to top-level sport?
There were quite a few technical and physical questions about the gym, of course. There was also, the mental question: Am I ready to compete again? Am I ready to show myself to the people, judges? So it was a long process, I took my time. After the passion for my club [la SM Orléans] so that at one point, I also wanted to transfer the club’s colors to competition and help the club to have the best possible results. The club opened its arms to me when everything was going well and especially when everything was going wrong. I will be indebted to them all my life. The recovery with the Top 12 was not wonderful, but these are things that are part of high performance sport and that keeps us moving forward. Little by little I rediscover the love for competition also, this passion to be able to show myself, to be subject to the stress of the competition, to the encouragement of my entourage and others. I think there is nothing more beautiful than competing.
Little by little, I rediscover my love for competition, being subject to stress, to the encouragement of those around me and others.
The year 2021, however, ended with a great success.
Sure, the year 2021 ended on a golden note. A few weeks ago, I participated in the national workforce review, it’s a bit like a French championship, and I won that competition. It’s moments that allow me to regain confidence and smile. And then to be able to continue to advance as a high level athlete.
You are therefore approaching 2022 in a positive light. What are your goals for the coming year?
I think I’m going to gradually find my place in the national collective, in the French team. It will also be important steps for me to regain the confidence that I can have in myself. I am a European medalist, I have some experience at the international level. I find it is the most beautiful of defend the colors of his country and to defend all the colors that result from it behind, whether those of the club or those of our entourage. So, I hope to be able to continue this momentum. Sure, Paris 2024 remains a concrete, real objective. Afterwards, I know from experience that you shouldn’t move too fast. You really have to go step by step. An Olympic cycle is four years, it’s a long time. I know how precious time is, but above all how much You have to be patient.