On August 14, 2008 in Beijing, Alain Bernard became the first French Olympic champion in the 100 meter freestyle in 47 seconds 21 hundredths. During these games, he also won the silver medal in the 4 times 100 meter relay and won the bronze medal in the 50 meter freestyle.
At the microphone of Bixente Lizarazuhe says that these exceptional results are the fruit of his collaboration with his trainer, Denis Auguin.
Denis Auguin, the coach who took him to the top
It was in 2000, when he joined the Cercle des nageurs d’Antibes that Alain Bernard met Denis Auguin. “Life made our paths cross at that time. He was a young coach who came from Marseille, I was a tall, skinny young swimmer who couldn’t put one arm in front of the other., remembers the Olympic champion. From the start, Denis Auguin was convinced that they could do something together.
Their collaboration lasted 15 years. Years during which he accompanies the swimmer in his performances. “A coach for me is someone who obviously has technical knowledge, but his real skills are his role as an educator”, explains Alain Bernard. Thanks to his ability to listen, adapt and persuade, Denis Auguin helped his athlete believe in himself to give his best.
After failing to qualify for the Athens Olympics in 2004, Denis Auguin managed to motivate the swimmer so that he does not let himself be defeated. Suffering from mononucleosis and toxoplasmosis, Alain Bernard could not be at his usual level of performance. “Denis, my coach, will play on it and he will say to me: “Listen Alain, I know that you are capable of doing better. I know that we have a project to build in the next 4 years to progress, and I’m sure that one day you can swim less than 49 seconds, or even less than 48 seconds”. Knowing, at that time, that the world record was 47 seconds 84 hundredths, it was insane for me, and yet, I believed it! This is where he was strong. It was to show me that we were capable of doing better than what we had done with these brakes and these constraints”, he says.
That’s what sport offers too, it’s meetings. – Alain Bernard
Four years later, at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, Alain Bernard faced the Australian Eamon Sullivan in the 100 meters. For him to excel in this highly anticipated duel, Denis Auguin was able to find the words to give him confidence. He says: “Denis, my coach, told me before the final: “We analyzed your race, we analyzed the race of Eamon Sullivan, your opponent, if you pass 25 meters from the finish next to him and you are not burnt, you have every chance of hitting before “. At the end of the race, we tend to be tense, to be paralyzed, and the brain just tells your muscles and your body “stop, stop, stop, it hurts”. You have to fight against that. With this psychological ascendancy, I’m sure it helped me to grab small hundredths “. However, Alain Bernard will learn later that everything he had told him was not true. “He told me that just to trust me and it worked. It’s just crazy! ».
Today, it has been 10 years since Alain Bernard stopped his career. He is still very close to Denis Auguin and he considers him one of his best friends.. “That’s what sport offers too, it’s meetings. There were, of course, disagreements, tensions, but not one word was more hurtful than another. We learned to communicate, to talk to each other, to trust each other.says the swimmer.
Nevertheless, the Olympic champion does not currently plan to become a coach himselfeven if he admits having thought about it: “It’s something that’s been on my mind a lot. It’s as engaging as being a top athlete. It’s six days a week, fifty weeks a year. Selfishly, I also want to have a little more free time than I was able to have during my entire phase of adolescence until my 30s. Now, it’s a career where you can continue until you’re 60. Nothing is ever finished, nothing is ever written”.