Their recent results on the World Cup circuit went in this direction, but with the bronze medal obtained in the mixed team aerials competition at the Beijing Games, the Quebec Air Force 2.0 is indeed a reality.
Posted at 8:45 p.m.
Miha Fontaine was already a little more in the spotlight before her Olympic podium last Thursday. And that’s normal, because he is the son of former champion Nicolas Fontaine who is now one of the coaches of this promising group of which Émile Nadeau is a part, who will start in Olympic competition for the first time early Tuesday morning. , Quebec time.
Nadeau had dreamed for a very long time of participating in the Olympic Games, as we have seen in a video shared on Facebook, where he expresses this wish when he is not even 10 years old.
“The progression curve was leading these young people towards the 2026 Olympics. What Nicolas Fontaine put together, he may have had a nice trick played on him, made the young people progress faster than expected. . And more interestingly, they didn’t skip any steps,” says Claude Nadeau, Émile’s father and long-time volunteer since his son started playing this sport.
The importance of the ground crew
Squadron fighter pilots need a ground crew to get everything ready before they take off. It’s no different for the young freestyle team and in the case of Émile Nadeau, that help came mainly from families. His and those of several athletes who live in Lac-Beauport.
Originally from Prévost in the Laurentians, the skier quickly realized that he had to head for Lac-Beauport if he wanted to continue his development, while he was increasingly abandoning the bumps in order to concentrate on the jumps. Boarding with families of teammates during summer courses on the water ramps at the Yves-Laroche acrobatic center convinced him to continue the experience once winter came. And it is with open arms that we welcomed the teenager at the end of his secondary school, confirms his father.
“We were super lucky! It clicks between young people and between parents. We would have liked to invent a scenario and it would not have been better than what actually happened. […] Since secondary 3 or 4, her gang of friends, she was not at school, but at the Relais. It’s a nice gang with good parents. »
Émile Nadeau landed his triple jumps for the first time at the World Cup last month in Deer Valley, where he clinched fifth place the day before his 18thand birthday. It was the last event of the Olympic selection process and his gamble paid off.
Jeff Bean, one of the Canadian coaches accompanying the athletes in Beijing, says he is thrilled to work with such a young and motivated team. Added to this is the arrival of mixed team competition on the Games program, which could not have come at a better time for the Canadian team.
“It’s the perfect timing for our gang. The team we have is building our sport. Lewis (Irving) is a veteran, Marion (Thénault, seventh Monday) went through the RBC recruitment program and Miha comes from the heritage of the sport (with his father) ”, advances the one who also works with Rémi Bélanger, the mentor by Emile Nadeau.
Claude Nadeau will not be in China to see his boy jump due to the pandemic.
“It’s boring, but these are not our Games. These are his Games and he is there. It would be much duller if there were no Games at all. »
The father remains admiring of these young athletes who have avoided all the pitfalls to collect points in the World Cup for two years of pandemic.
“The program has been extremely well put together and structured and there are very few injuries, a sign that they are well prepared. Émile, I wish him not to be disappointed and to be proud of what he has done. »