“The goal is to ensure that children can practice physical activities themselves”, motivates the judoka. During one day, forty young people from the center competed in strength tests, basketball and wheelchair relay, pétanque and molkky, with a bonus quiz on the Olympic Games, before being rewarded with medals in chocolate.
The opportunity also to share with the champions who came to give demonstrations and discuss with the children. At Axel Clerget’s call, three other high-level athletes responded: Luka Mkheidze, also from Judo Sucy and selected for this summer in the under 60kg category, Joseph Terhec (over 100 kg) and Marie Oteiza, gold medalist at the 2018 European Modern Pentathlon Championships. “In this Olympic year, this kind of sharing gives me strength“, Testifies Axel Clerget.
At the beginning, the exchange is timid, the young people are impressed. To put people at ease, it is the athletes who ask questions and tell their daily life, their story. “Are any of you familiar with modern pentathlon?” launches Marie Oteiza, aware that her sport receives less media coverage than judo. She confides that she started “Running and swimming at the age of seven”, before embracing the other disciplines and details how this cocktail of five disciplines (running, shooting, fencing, horse riding, swimming) involves a strong “Expenditure of energy and a rather flexible diet”, also insisting on the mental aspect. Luka Mkheidze talks about his childhood in Georgia, and his naturalization which allowed him to represent France at the World Championships, “pride.” Axel Clerget reminds us that athletes and children have things in common because judokas “Also do rehabilitation, like them. “
“Where is it that you hurt yourself the most?” asks young Nolan. Knees, cervical … “All my joints have been injured at least once!” summarizes Axel Clerget, causing laughter in the room.
At the Villiers-sur-Marne CRF, young people come here for full or day hospitalization for various pathologies, whether they are linked to multiple disabilities, an accident, a problem linked to growth. “They have various handicaps, some are there for a few months and will be able to resume a normal life but others have a much heavier handicap, and may never be able to walk again”, explains Galatée Cosset-Desplanques, director of the center operated by the SOS group. Precisely, for Axel Clerget, there is a parallel between his sport, made up of daily fights, and the hardships endured by these young people.
“When I was at their age, the athlete who inspired me was Jackson Chanet [un boxeur originaire de Saint-Dizier comme Axel Clerget, ndr]. I thought if he could do what he did [champion d’Europe 2000 en amateur], then anyone can do it, says the judoka. I hope to see one day one of these children make their dreams come true by being a role model. At that point, the circle will be complete! ”
