The young badminton champion is one of the athletes supported by Paris in her preparation for the 2024 Olympic Games. A passionate person who has practiced the discipline since her early childhood.
In the green alleys of the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (Insep), Vimala Hériau is like a fish in water. ” I have been training here for 6 yearsconfides the young champion, as she takes us to the huge badminton hall of the vast sports complex located in the Bois de Vincennes. Medical centre, balneotherapy, dieticians… We have all the services on site. It is the most comprehensive structure for Olympic sports! ».
The ideal place for Vimala Hériau: at 23, the double French badminton champion in women’s doubles (in 2018 and 2020), licensed at Racing Club de France, is one of the headliners of the France, and is one of the 54 athletes supported by the City of Paris in their preparation for the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games.
The Games in Paris? A dream for the young woman. ” I would really like to go there, I train every day for it! “But the competition is fierce in the small world of “bad” champions: “ We know that against the Asian players, it will be tough, but we have a very good group internationally. The French women’s team also won the first collective medal in its history (bronze) at the European Championships in Liévin in 2020.
High-level matches are as cool as those in professional tennis. It’s an intense, explosive sport that requires great tactical sense and endurance.
Vimala Hériau
French badminton champion in women’s doubles
The Games are also an opportunity to show that bad weather is not just a beach sport: “ High-level matches are as cool as those in professional tennis. It’s an intense, explosive sport that requires great tactical sense and endurance. The French public is not necessarily aware of it yet! In Asia, the biggest competitions already bring together thousands of enthusiastic fans and sponsors are numerous.
Only 16 pairs of players will be able to qualify for the Paris 2024 Olympic events. The qualifying period will begin in April 2023, ending a few months before the Paris Olympiad. By 2024, Vimala, who specializes in doubles (ladies and mixed), hopes to enter the top 20 in the world.
A passion since he was 5 years old
The bad, she fell in very small. At 5 years old, Vimala (“purity” in Laotian, a tribute to her mother’s country of origin) is already hitting her first shuttlecocks. Her family is settled in Sartrouville (Yvelines) and the little girl discovers the discipline in the Maisons-Laffitte club.
« My mother played badminton, and my brother too. He was part of the national top and played in the France team from the age of 13. For Vimala, the rise is rapid: selected for the youngest French team at 11, she joined the badminton hope center in Châtenay-Malabry (Hauts-de-Seine) in 2011, then the France center in Bordeaux, before to arrive at Insep after his baccalaureate.
In this factory of champions, where she rubs shoulders with hopes for Olympic medals in all sports, the emulation between players runs at full speed: ” Everything is done for you to become the best in your discipline, and the best players train there. »
Since then, she has been pursuing her career as a semi-professional player and that of a student in a master’s degree in health engineering. ” It’s not always easy to reconcile the two, but I’m getting there! My college, Sciences Sorbonne University, has a partnership with Insep, which allows me to do my master’s in 4 years instead of 2 ».
My whole life revolves around the bad. It’s a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice. We are less present for friends, for family. But I made those choices.
Vimala Hériau
FRENCH BADMINTON CHAMPION IN WOMEN’S DOUBLE
Because, with 20 hours of weekly training, video sessions and mental preparation, the weeks are very busy. Without forgetting the intense rhythm of the competitions: For tournaments, you can be away from Tuesday to Sunday…»
« My whole life revolves around the bad says Vimala. It’s a lot of work and a lot of sacrifice. We are less present for friends, for family. But I made those choices. »
Sometimes doubt arises. As in 2021, where the young woman faces health problems that keep her away from the field. ” For a year, I couldn’t play sports. This got me thinking about what’s next. Top-level sport is a profession of passion, but one that can stop at any time. “Because the stars of bad don’t shine forever:”In badminton, a player’s career ends around 30 years old. It’s essential to have a job alongside sport“. The following ? Maybe a career in health engineering. But, before that, the preparation for 2024 is accelerating. It multiplies international competitions. At the end of March, head to Orléans for the “Orléans masters badminton”, then Switzerland, before the major meeting of 2022 next spring: the world championships in Thailand.
