(Saint-Denis) Jean-Simon Desgagnés was in shock after his teammate Thomas Fafard’s incredible qualification for the 5,000-meter final on Wednesday morning. “I was in front of my TV and I was speechless for 30 minutes…”
Ten hours later, the 26-year-old athlete has taken on board the lesson his friend delivered and which their coach is keen to repeat: never take your foot off the gas.
That attitude didn’t pay off for him as much, but Jean-Simon Desgagnés had no regrets after his first Olympic final in the 3,000m steeplechase, where he overtook two rivals in the final 10 metres to cross the line 13e rank, a result below his expectations.
“In a big championship like this, everything has to be perfect to achieve our goals,” recalled the eighth-place finisher at the 2023 World Championships. “It’s not exceptional, it’s not bad, it’s an OK race. But it’s a day where I would have hoped for magic.”
After a fast start driven by the Ethiopians, who wanted to set the stage for Lamecha Girma, world record holder since last year, the native of Saint-Ferréol-les-Neiges was relegated to the back of the group of 15 riders. When the pace slowed a little before the halfway point, he tried to start a comeback towards the outside.
I tried to be combative and the pack closed up with about four laps to go. I trusted my strategy and stayed there. Unfortunately, I couldn’t get into the front [par la suite] as I would have hoped.
Jean-Simon Desgagnés
The last lap of this final final of the evening contained its share of twists and turns. American Kenneth Rooks, who had been alongside Desgagnés at the back of the pack until halfway through the race, first took the lead, forcing a reaction from the big favorite and defending champion, Soufiane el-Bakkali, the 6-foot-4 Moroccan. On the opposite straight, Ethiopian Girma stumbled around the hedge, falling unconscious on the purple track. The competitors following him, including Desgagnés, had to step over him to continue on their way.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Ethiopian Lamecha Girma suffered a heavy fall after getting caught in a hedge.
With about a hundred metres to go, el-Bakkali (8 min 6.05 s) managed to catch up with Rooks, en route to his second consecutive Olympic gold medal over the distance, a first since 1936. The 24-year-old American (8 min 6.41 s) resisted the comeback of Kenyan Abraham Kibiwot to win silver by six hundredths.
“Kenneth, I’ve already beaten him, he’s already beaten me,” noted the Quebecer, who finished in 8 min 19.31 s. “He had a personal best of 8 min 15 s before entering the final. We’re at a level where everything is accessible. It’s great to see that.”
The medical student at Laval University will not spare a strategic analysis of this final, but he has already declared himself satisfied with his stay in Paris.
“The experience is exceptional. I am returning home with a 13e Olympic place, it’s not nothing in an event where everyone really arrives at the top of their game. All in all, it’s a positive result, with tactical learnings and in terms of mental preparation.
With two finalists (Fafard and Desgagnés) and a semi-finalist (Charles Philibert-Thiboutot in the 1500m), the three musketeers of coach Félix-Antoine Lapointe, who exchange knowledge and lessons, did not play the tourists in the City of Lights.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, THE PRESS
Jean-Simon Desgagnés (back center)
“We don’t come here to be extras,” Desgagnés insisted. “As Félix said recently: we want to become protagonists of our sport. We can’t be satisfied with a 13e place. We must aim for top 10, top 8, top 5. We are getting closer to it.
With a year of internship to complete, Jean-Simon Desgagnés is far from thinking about hanging up his crampons.
“I achieved a personal best a month ago, I just made an Olympic final, I’m in the top 15 of my sport. I’m trying to push to stay among the best in the coming years. […] Sport is an uncertain world, but it is clear that the Los Angeles Games [de 2028] are in my sights.”
For now, he will enjoy a bit of good time with his fifteen friends who have come to encourage him. And he will be in the front row to support his colleague Thomas Fafard until the end on Friday evening.
Convulsing as the race ended, Girma was carried out of the stadium on a stretcher. No update on his condition has been provided at the time of writing.