Laurent Dubreuil was flushed out by China on Tuesday in Calgary. Not because of his political views, but rather around a pool table.
As a team with his young teammate Cédrick Brunet, who will experience his baptism of the World Cup on Friday, Dubreuil killed time by playing against Tingyu Gao, his rival in the 500m, and a coach of the Chinese team.
“We got beaten like 14 online games! laughed the Quebecer. Gao was no good, but neither was I. It was his coach who gave us a lesson in the pool. ”
In the aftermath of this friendly duel, Canada announced that it was joining a few other countries in a diplomatic boycott of the Beijing Olympics.
Dubreuil believes that this is “a good idea.” “For us, the athletes, it does not change our preparation and our chances of performing. ”
He is especially fortunate that “the athletes were not used to convey a message”.
The people you punish the most by boycotting [complet], they are the athletes of your own country.
Laurent Dubreuil
“I don’t know how stressful China is whether Canadian athletes are on the line or not. I think they don’t give a damn. They are going to win more medals if Canada does not go and they are going to find a way to say that they are better. They’re going to spin this. ”
Dubreuil nevertheless wonders about the impact of a boycott by the political authorities. “If we wanted to take real action with countries that we don’t agree with about their human rights record, we should just stop buying stuff from there. That would be a real punishment. Athletes are very symbolic, but I don’t know how much that accomplishes anything. ”
As with COVID-19, he says he is not wasting energy on extrasport elements over which he has no control.
Still, the 29-year-old father is not impervious or insensitive to what is currently happening in China.
“I don’t agree with the way China treats its citizens and everyone in the country. Respect for human rights is atrocious in China. I do not agree with [la situation]. But I don’t think it’s a Canadian athlete’s job to pay the price for the transgressions of a foreign country. There are much more effective and concrete ways than not sending the athletes. I’m glad they didn’t charge us the price for it. ”
Gaétan Boucher: Become world champion again
PHOTO PATRICK SANFAÇON, ARCHIVES THE PRESS
Gaétan Boucher and his molded skates
Gaétan Boucher came to Calgary with his friend Benoît Lamarche to attend the World Cup. At the last minute, Radio-Canada asked him to analyze the events that will be broadcast on the web, a role he will also occupy during the Beijing Olympics.
Boucher and Lamarche did not arrive empty-handed: they each had a pair of skates in their suitcase.
Thanks to their relations, they managed to get half an hour of ice cream on Thursday evening at the Olympic Oval, where they played their last Olympics together in 1988.
After a 23-year hiatus – he took part in the World Masters Championship in 1996 in Quebec City and in 1997 in Berlin – Boucher returned to speed skating in earnest last winter on the outer plains ring. ‘Abraham.
The construction of the Quebec Ice Center, inaugurated at the end of August, and the Masters World Championship it will host in 2023 have served as motivation for one of the greatest champions in Canadian Olympic history. Mathieu Turcotte designed skates for him and he left, on long and short track.
I got back to it more seriously since October in Quebec. I skated about fifteen times.
Gaétan Boucher, around the baggage carousel, Wednesday evening
And then ? “It’s hard in your! I’m not that fit. This summer is perhaps the one where I have been the least. In July, I was doing nothing. I was just playing golf. ”
The 63-year-old bends down to imitate the skater’s position: “Technically, I skate well, but I had to adapt to the [lames] claps. I no longer have the stamina, which I have to redevelop. It hurts the legs, the movements are not so fast. ”
Coordination and speed in sprints are his biggest challenges. He is aiming for nothing less than the cumulative title in Quebec in 2023 (probably the 500, 1500, 3000 and 5000m). He’s already doing his calculations.
“For that, I have to be able to skate at least around 40 seconds in the 500m. There, if I did one, I’d be 45, 46 seconds, if not slower. When I started at the start of the year, I had a hard time doing relaxed laps at 41, 42 seconds. There, I am able to do it in 36, 37. The strength returns. I’m going to have to train seriously, that’s for sure. ”
Does anyone want to bet against him?