Laura Tarantola and Claire Bové, the rowers of the lightweight two-scoop, won the silver medal on Thursday after a lightning sprint. The 9e French medal, the 2e rowing.
From our special correspondent in Tokyo
“When I crossed the finish line, the time to come back down from the effort, I did not know and I said to Claire: ” Whatever the result, thank you ”. I looked at the board and said, ‘We’re second.’ And she replied ” No, that’s the water line, we were at 2. Then they showed us in pictures, we took a long time to realize. Once we were sure, we shouted… ”, laughs Laura Tarantola who, with Claire Bové, at the end of a breathtaking final, won the silver medal, in two lightweight sculls. At 14 hundredths of the Italian duo (Valentina Rodini-Federica Cesarini). The first French women’s rowing medal at the Olympic Games since… 1996. Hugo Boucheron and Matthieu Androdias, the gold medalists (in a pair), in the front row, gave voice to accompany the last 500 meters of the duo blue. A strong moment for the French delegation.
In passing the last 500, I said we give everything. And we’ll see.
Laura Tarantula
Laura Tarantola recounts the intense finale: “We knew it would be the knife between the teeth from the first to the last blow. The instruction was to surpass oneself. My role is to give directions but every 500m, we were in a huge package, I didn’t really know what to say, and in the last 500, I said we give everything. And we’ll see. A big race. “ Claire Bové continues: “As long as we are not dead, we can still push… We said to ourselves it must be easy, that it slips, that we are good, we have fun. It was phew. I felt we were flying. “
However, it was necessary to master a technical basin with a cross wind. A “false shovel” was fatal to the Dutch, title holders and world recordwomen, bronze medalists. The Blue could savor. “With the medals, I had the impression of being in an epic film, like when you watch the retrospectives with the laurels around your head and you say to yourself it’s another planet, it’s cinema. And no… “, laughs Claire Bové. Laura Tarantola slips: ” That’s crazy. Too happy to have surpassed ourselves, to have given everything and that it pays. We have often been on the other side. It was time to pay off. I bring this back for loved ones who are there in good times and bad. “
Christine Gosse, head of the women’s sector recalls: “We knew they could do 1 or 6. In these lightweight disciplines, everyone has the same type of boat and they all weigh 57 kg. These are the ones that will be ready on D-Day, and will row the best according to the conditions of the basin. They were in full possession of their means physically, technically and mentally. For two, three years we have put a lot of things around to get there. “
.
