“When I think about it, it still happens in the evening that I have little tears. »
No, Kim Clavel is still “not at peace” with what happened on the fateful evening of October 7. The boxer then controversially lost her world championship fight against Evelin Nazarena Bermúdez by split decision at Place Bell.
“It doesn’t go away,” she said. I’m in a good mood, I chat with people, I’m decent. But the pain it caused in my heart is still there. »
The boxer chats with The Press on the sidelines of the induction evening of 10 new members into the Hall of Fame of the Gold Medal Club, an organization that promotes emerging Quebec athletes. As for Clavel and Laurent Duvernay-Tardif, they received the Inspiration Gold Medals, two new honorary distinctions from the NPO.
We are sitting at a table in the main passage of Place Bell in Laval, in fact. While waiting for the ceremony to begin, “KK” takes the time to speak with the verve and passion that we know him to have.
I viscerally feel that I won this fight. When you’re in the ring, there’s something you feel. I had both hands in the air. So it’s difficult to accept. It hurts.
Kim Clavel, about her last fight
Since then, she has had to rebuild herself, she agrees. “It’s like, after the fight, I need to be proud of myself for something other than boxing. »
Direction his mother’s ranch, in Saint-Liguori, near Joliette.
“My filly is 2 years old. Her name is KK. [Mon but], it was to train her. »
“I made small goals for myself. “Today I’m going to do this with my filly.” I did it, it worked. I made myself a game plan. I was asking my sister, who is a horse trainer, questions. She helped me from a distance. I had never driven a truck with the trailer with horses behind. I said, “Mom, I want to learn that!” We drove, I went to pick up my friends’ horses. I felt proud. »
Then a stay in Mexico allowed him to completely drop out. She only came back at the beginning of this week. And already, a first visit to his gym gave him new emotions.
“I won’t lie to you, it hurt me. […] I know what I need to do to get back to where I want to be. I know it is extremely difficult. I know that no matter how hard you do all the work you have to do, in the most perfect way, you are never guaranteed to get to the end of the road. And retracing the route without being sure you’ll get to the end is a risk worth taking. But I think that’s the beauty of sport, too. »
Do we feel any doubt on her part about her future as a professional boxer?
“No,” she quickly assures. I know that the passion I still have. I love this sport. I like less what is around all that. Judging sports is difficult. »
Yvon Michel and the RACJ
Yvon Michel knows something about this. The promoter had attacked judge Benoît Roussel and, by the same token, the Régie des alcools, des courses et des jeux (RACJ), after the defeat of his boxer in October. He notably accused the official of bias against local pugilists, even revealing at a press conference that he had asked the RACJ that Roussel not officiate at this gala.
Michel, also present at Thursday evening’s ceremony, will soon have to explain himself as part of a hearing with the Régie, which accuses him of having verbally attacked representative Sylvie Lécuyer and judge Roussel that evening.
“We’re going to say how we saw that, our perspective,” he said to The Press. […] I trust that the people who will hear us are people who have good judgment, and who will realize what happened. »
The promoter is cautious when he returns to the facts, a month and a half later. He refrains from mentioning the judge’s name again, because he does not want to “belittle anyone.” But he emphasizes that if “it had happened the right way” before the gala, we would not be here today.
Kim Clavel says she is “lucky” to have people who “are there to [la] defend “.
“I think Yvon was very transparent,” underlines the one who was seated next to him during the post-fight press conference. People like transparency, in general. I didn’t hear him being disrespectful. He just told the truth word for word. »
“In the fall of 2024, we will be ready”
Yvon Michel is reassuring about the future of Kim, in whom he still has complete confidence.
“If I forced things, I could probably get her back to the world championship very early, maybe even in her next fight. But it’s not the right thing to do. Now, she needs, with her team, to regain confidence, to get going and not to go too quickly. We’re going to give him two fights, and in the fall of 2024, we’re going to be ready. »
The promoter assures that despite his two defeats in three fights, Clavel and his “spectacular style” are “in demand”.
“We don’t just want her to become world champion. We want her to become champion, and to stay there for a long time. It’s a step back to start again in the right way. »
LDT, the young retiree
Laurent Duvernay-Tardif arrives almost out of breath at the ceremony which is beginning. He will receive an Inspiration Gold Medal there, but for now, a short interview with The Press waiting for him. After announcing your retirement from football in September, what is keeping you busy these days, Laurent? “Everything,” he answers without hesitation. OK. My career as a young retiree is in full swing. »
He has just returned from the opening of the new branch of the bakery Le pain dans les voiles, in Blainville. He also takes care of his LDT Foundation and the La 6 programe period, which aims to promote academic success through art and sport. “I believe in this project,” he said. I want young people to move, I want young people to be active. […] I try to meet with lots of potential donors to raise the money needed to grow the program. I’m starting medicine again in April, so I have six months to try to sustain the foundation. »
It was “important” for Duvernay-Tardif to finish his residency. Firstly, because medicine was a “structuring element” in his life, just like football. “To close the doors on medicine and football at the same time, it doesn’t make sense, it’s too much, it defined me for so long. » But he also has a vision for the future, having started a master’s degree in public health in the United States. If today he has the “credibility” of a football player, he wants to seek this same credibility in medicine “to have a more preventative message” in the public sphere, by advocating “a less curative approach” for the health system. LDT would like to get involved in “parapolitical” projects in this sense. “This is the reflection that I started and that I want to continue. »
Hall of Fame inductees
Denis Gauthier (hockey), Ann Dow (water polo) and France Gagné (para-athletics) all three entered the Gold Medal Club Hall of Fame on Thursday. Gauthier played with the Calgary Flames, Phoenix Coyotes, Philadelphia Flyers and finished his career with the Los Angeles Kings.
PHOTO BERNANRD BRAULT, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Ann Dow during a water polo match against Kazakhstan at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games.
Ann Dow, for her part, was a pillar of the Canadian senior water polo team from 1991 to 2005. She participated in the Sydney Olympics in 2000, then was captain at the Athens Games in 2004. In 2005, she won the bronze medal with Canada at the World Aquatics Championships in Montreal.
France Gagné won more than 200 medals in para athletics during her career, including around forty in major international competitions. She retired in 2008, and has since given more than 220 conferences in Quebec schools to fight against school dropouts.
PHOTO OLIVIER JEAN, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Réjean Houle and Michel Bergeron, last April
The Gold Medal Club’s most prestigious award, the Medal of Honor, was presented to former Montreal Canadiens player Réjean Houle.
The seven other inductees are the former presidents of the club, now governors: Christian Berland (2005-2006), Sylvie Bardier (2006-2007), Stéphane Bouthillier (2009-2010), Michel Allen (2010-2011), Luis R . Galvez (2011-2012), Robin Ruggiero (2012-2013) and Carole Lefebvre (2013-2015).