Anouchka Martin will go to the Tokyo Olympics

Category: Swimming: Anouchka Martin will go to the Tokyo Olympics

At the end of a completely upset day, the fault of a technical incident, Bragarde Anouchka Martin, licensed in Marseille, obtained her ticket for the Tokyo Olympics this summer, in relay, finishing 4th in the 100m freestyle . Superb!

There is a saying “never two without three”. Yesterday, in the Chartres swimming pool, during the French championships, this was verified. After the Marnavalais Axel Clerget in judo, the Langroise Anaïs Michel in weightlifting, the Bragarde Anouchka Martin, will go to Tokyo this summer, to participate in the Olympic Games.

“The goal of a career! »Declared both proud and moved Arnaud Massart who trained Anouchka Martin for ten years. “Grégory Saccavini, our lifeguard, also had it when she was little. “
Present yesterday with another protégé, Clara Mougenot, also aligned in the 100m freestyle (she improved her time by 1’02 ”55 by swimming in 1’02” 01), the COSD swimming coach preferred to follow the race of the Bragarde on TV, in a separate room, because he knew that by staying “the tears would rise. “But he still recognized that with this 4th place, synonymous with qualification for the Olympic relay, there were” a lot of emotions. “

On the way back, he did not fail to note that he also coached another athlete qualified for the Games, namely Axel Clerget! “He was young, but he swam well, even though we knew he was going to move towards judo. That he goes to the Games is good, because he is a great guy. “

An eight hour break!

Yesterday morning, after the women’s 200m breaststroke heats, when the judges noticed that the removable wall of the 50m competition pool at the Chartres pool had moved, there was nothing to suggest such a happy outcome. “The warm-ups were done, the wetsuits put on and everything stopped,” explains the COSD swimming coach. “At 11 am there was a meeting to tell us that we would be kept informed at 1 pm and finally the competition resumed at 6 pm, with a modified schedule and a direct ranking. “

An eight-hour break that is not easy to manage, and what’s more when you are looking for a qualification for the Games… But, to Arnaud Massart’s greatest satisfaction, Anouchka “managed really well, better than the others. Of course, like all crawlers, she was disturbed, but unlike others, younger, she has experience. “

And then, during this long hiatus, he spoke again with Anouchka Martin about an anecdote that came back to him. He recounted it: “Ten years ago, during a French championship, I told him one evening,“ the day there is a glitch, make it a force ”. The next day, there was a power failure, she stayed behind the block for half an hour. “Yesterday, it lasted longer, but she implemented what Arnaud Massat had told her. While there were three or four swimmers for 4th place synonymous with the Olympic Games in relay, it was Anouchka Martin who took it, tied with Margaux Fabre (54 ”95) who is already qualified on the 4 x 200 m. Admittedly, as Arnaud Massart acknowledged, “the last fifteen meters were difficult, when she was only 4th, but the essential is done. She was very happy. ” She can !

“Three European medals! “

You should still know that with her comrades from the France team, Bragarde won bronze in the 4 x 100 meters relay, in May, in Budapest, Hungary. And Arnaud Massart to add: “casually, it still has three European medals! “

If the COSD swimming coach will remember this June 19, 2021 for a long time, it should be the same for Anouchka Martin. The Bragarde must line up today in 50 freestyle. And Arnaud Massart concludes: “she’s going to swim to have fun, but you never know, she can also make a podium …”

The icing on the cake of a weekend in Chartres that would end in apotheosis!

Yves Tainturier

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Posted on 06/20-2021 at 2:16 p.m.