The one who won two titles of world champion evokes on franceinfo Sunday in the Club Info a day “strong in emotion” and assures having “no regrets” about her career.
“There have been different Tessas throughout my career“said French skier Tessa Worley, one of the greatest winners in French skiing, on Sunday March 19 in the Club info de franceinfo, after the announcement of her retirement at 33 after the giant of the finals of the Alpine Skiing World Cup in Soldeu (Andorra).
franceinfo: We imagine that there were and still are a lot of emotions after your last race. How did that happen ?
Tessa Worley: It was very emotional today. I really wanted to go to the end of my season and my two races. I wanted to stay focused. Today, everything had a little special flavor and I tried to be careful to soak up these details because I knew that I was living them for the last time. It’s full of little things that, for 17 years, I’ve been so used to doing. It made the day a bit difficult emotionally, and staying focused until the end was not easy. Anyway, I’m very happy with how the day went.
What did you think about during this last race?
Lots of things! I was torn between the thoughts that I can usually have about a competition, to put myself in a zone of concentration, so technical thoughts, but sometimes my mind went a little on my last moments. With my technician, with my physio, with my coaches at the edge of the track… Lots of little things like that, which I tried to remember forever.
How do you manage to stay at the highest level for seventeen years, which is quite incredible in skiing?
I think this longevity is really due to my passion for skiing and also my passion for training, to improve and always progress. This process of progressing and becoming better every day has guided me throughout my career and has allowed me to always look for things to improve. This is what allowed me to evolve over the seasons. It’s the pleasure I had to rub shoulders with all these French and foreign champions, all my coaches, my staff… I crossed paths with a lot of people and it was incredible.
I have the impression that in recent years I have lived my seasons with more awareness and presence. I really immersed myself in what was around the competition. I lived incredible moments, especially in 2016-2017 with the title of world champion and the crystal globe. I was technically and physically on top. For a sportswoman, it was really incredible. Lately, everything was not on top, but I lived with more serenity and pleasure all these moments. There have been different Tessas throughout my career and each moment was very special.
There were also more difficult times. Do you have any regrets?
No, I have no regrets. There are indeed goals that I failed to achieve, such as the Olympics, but I have no regrets because I really put everything in place to achieve these goals. Some don’t work but that doesn’t mean it changes anything for me. When I put everything in place to achieve these goals, that’s also what makes me proud. The failure of the last Olympic Games was hard to swallow at the time because I told myself that I would no longer have this chance, but I had given everything and took advantage of this beautiful event.
How do you see the rest, after retirement at 33?
We have to get out of this athlete functioning. It might take me a few weeks. On a daily basis, we live as a top athlete, we eat as a top athlete, we sleep as a top athlete, and you have to get out of that a bit and realize that you are entering a life with performance as my objective. continual. Little by little, I will try to project myself on other projects but for the moment, I don’t really have any particular idea. I already want to savor all these moments, take a step back from all these years and soon discover new things.