IN PICTURES – A fresco of basketball player Alexia Chartereau in her hometown of Coulaines

At the corner of rue De Gaulle and rue Jean-Claude Boulard, not far from the gymnasium where she scored his first baskets
it’s a Alexia Chartereau smiling and beaming who watches over passers-by. On approximately two square meters, the portrait of the basketball player of Asvel
and the France team appears in black White on yellow background. Inaugurated this Friday, this image painted on a wooden plaque will remain in place at least until the Paris Olympics in 2024.

Born of a partnership between Sarthe Habitat and the city of Coulaines, the work was designed and produced by the artist Le Mans White Rabbit, with young people from the town of Coulaines supervised by the Inalta association. All from a photo provided by the athlete: “She sent us some pictures of herself, says the artist, I chose the most smiling because I found her very beautiful. Then I reworked it, I pixelated it in small dots. Then I enlarged it and cut it out to make a stencil with which we painted.”

Tell young people to believe in their dreams

Placed in a place where hundreds of people and young people pass each day in the direction of the swimming pool, the gymnasium or the school, this portrait must transmit the pride of being coulainais says the mayor, Christophe Rouillon: “It’s a way of honoring an athlete made in Coulaines, who drew her skills but also values ​​here. It’s a way of telling young people that you have to believe in your dreams.”

This is what is written at the bottom of the work. And what pushed the international player to agreemost naturally in the world, she explains: “I’m happy because I’m still in touch with this town of Coulaines and the Jeunesses Sportives, which were my training club. It’s cool to keep this link and to have this great project which will allow young people to identify, to see that I come from here and especially where I am today. It will perhaps allow them to dream even bigger. In any case, it makes me happy and I am proud.”

“It’s cool to keep this link with Coulaines and to have this beautiful project” – Alexia Chartereau

Pride also for the club and its approximately 4,000 members. If some, among the youngest, did not yet know Alexia Chartereau, this portrait should remedy that. Moreover, after inaugurating last year a fresco by Jo-Wilfried Tsongathe city is already considering honoring a third champion from JS Coulaines: Iliana Rupertteammate of Alexia Chartereau at Asvel and in the French team
.