He will remember this “first”. Bronze medal around his neck, the French Quentin Rakotomalala seemed not to believe his eyes, on the podium of the European Swimming Championships. At 19, the Frenchman made history, finishing third in the free solo event on Sunday August 14. For the first time, artistic swimming, a discipline long considered reserved for women, was on the program for men in a major competition.
“I hope that seeing me here, [d’autres garçons] will think that it is possible for them to do synchronized swimming. It’s not a girl’s sport, it’s totally opensavored the tricolor, who started artistic swimming at the age of 9 following in the footsteps of his sister. I hope that for the future, there are plenty of people who will get started and continue. »
Long stigmatised, men’s artistic swimming is only in its infancy. In 2015, mixed pairs made their official appearance at the world championships – and Frenchwoman Virginie Dedieu, a former star in the discipline, came out of retirement to compete with her compatriot, Benoît Beaufils. But it took until 2022 for an international competition to schedule solo events for men. And great beginnings oblige, only four competitors took part, Sunday, in the European competition because of the low density of the discipline.
A discipline still in its infancy
With 78 points, Quentin Rakotomalala finished third – out of four, therefore – behind the Italian Giorgio Minisini in gold (88.4667) and the Spaniard Fernando Diaz del Rio (83.3333) in silver. “I really had a blast, I took advantage of the moment. To be at the European Championships is really incredible.”said with a smile the Frenchman, who swam to melancholic music by Briton Benjamin Clementine.
Before entering the competition, the swimmer recounted the difficulties encountered when he was younger, when he had to face “misunderstanding and questioning in people’s eyes”when he explained to them how to do artistic swimming.
He plunged into the deep end – title of Gilles Lellouche’s dramatic comedy (2018) around discipline, staging an aquatic ballet of broken arms – following his big sister. “I swam at the base and loved seeing their galas and competitions. One day, a coach offered me to try because she saw that I loved it and that I came to all the galas. he explained. Enjoying « the artistic side, the dance side”, whoever feels comfortable in the water has adopted the discipline. And at 19, he brought a bronze medal to the ambitious blue wave, which dreams of breaking into Rome for these European championships.
