Laëtitia Guapo prepares “with her knife and her guts” to win gold in 3×3 basketball

After their fourth place at the Tokyo Games, the French 3×3 basketball players, led by Laëtitia Guapo, intend to climb to the top of the podium in Paris.

A professional basketball player in Bourges, it is in 3×3 basketball that Laëtitia Guapo intends to compete in the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. Already world champion in the discipline, the fourth place obtained at the Tolyo Games in 2020 left her with a bitter taste , and a desire for revenge.

franceinfo: You are a professional at Tango Bourges Basket. It is the largest women’s five-on-five basketball club. Except that the objective of the Games is not that, it is the new discipline, it is 3×3, street basketball.

Laëtitia Guapo: It’s fun, very fun. Ten minutes or 21 points. The goal is to play in the most beautiful places around the world. It’s removable terrain, so you can mount it. I played in June on the Pic du Midi and in July, I played in a shopping center in China for example. We have already played in circuses, in arenas, in the most beautiful squares around the world. It’s super fun. There are only four of us on the team, we have a coach, but he’s in the stands. He has no right to coach us. So a lot of autonomy, responsibility.

“When you’re in the washing machine of the 3×3 and you lack lucidity, making the right decisions, sometimes, it’s not always easy, but that’s what’s super cool, we have a lot of responsibilities .”

Laëtitia Guapo

at franceinfo

You have to be versatile, aggressive in attack, in defense, be able to defend on small ones, on big ones, be able to shoot from afar, attack the circle and attack your opponent, these are the particularities of the three three. And all this in music, outdoors and it’s so great.

And we spend a lot of energy. Marie-Ève ​​Paget, your teammate in the 3×3 team, says that you have six lungs. It’s your reputation for running everywhere and never getting tired. ?

So if I’m still a little tired, but I love it. People often ask me why the 3×3. I’m a 5×5 professional because we weren’t yet professional at 3×3. We have been professional since September via the French Basketball Federation and the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes League, which invested in the project to prepare for the Olympic Games. And in fact, I always told myself that, in addition to the Olympic Games, my dream was to be a professional in 3×3 because it’s the only discipline where I constantly push my limits as a team, by living amazing emotions with my teammates.

In the 5×5, I never put myself in states like I can be in the 3×3. You have to warm up, we are outside, it can rain, it can be cold. We may not have a warm-up court and in fact, that’s what’s so cool about street basketball: not to worry, but while being hyper professional, constantly pushing your limits. Cardio, on the 3×3 field, is hard.

Lots of energy and also a fighting spirit. You are not here to participate. I saw you on social networks talking about win win, the word winner. Is winning important to you? Are you going for gold in Paris?

Yes, earlier I was asked what I would bring to Paris with my knife, and I said “my guts” because I am, I admit, hyper-competitive. I remember my parents showing me videos where, already at three years old, my father told me “We are going to school” and I said “Yes, I want to come first”. However, I’m not a bad loser, but I still hate losing.

Paris is this desire for a medal, to take revenge on Tokyo because we finished fourth and we have this chocolate medal with a big bitter taste in the back of our throat. So there you have it, we want to win.