ALÈS An Olympic medalist gives his advice to young people

The French judoka Larbi Benboudaoud, world champion in 1999, was at the center of the exchanges during a morning visit to the Maison de la Jeunesse this Saturday, June 3. His Alesian trip then continued with a reception at the town hall and sports demonstrations at the Clavières Sports Hall.

“We don’t have the opportunity every day to have an athlete of this level in Alès”, perfectly summed up Marie-Claude Albaladejo, Sports Assistant for the city of Alès. It is a sacred size of world judo who stopped in the capital of the Cévennes this Saturday, June 3. Invited by a childhood friend who lives in the Cauvel district, Larbi Benboudaoud, 49, Olympic vice-champion at the Sydney Olympics in 2000 (-66kg), world champion and twice European champion, first sent to about twenty teenagers in the premises of the Maison de la Jeunesse.

An intervention initiated by Élodie Guin, local coordinator of the territorial educational project (PEDT) of Alès Agglomeration. Received by the last named in the company of the person in charge of the places Ferad Namar and the animator Brandon Baptiste, the one who was director of the high performance of French judo until December 2022 distilled valuable advice to the youth of the territory.

The teenagers knew Teddy Riner, not Larbi Benboudaoud whose sporting success coincided with that of the more media-friendly David Douillet. So, to whet the appetite of the youth who didn’t know much about this sport imported from Japan, the judoka had made the trip with a few gadgets. “I brought you back my second skin”he started, taking out his “judogi”, the official name of the judoka outfit colloquially referred to as “kimono”.

After which, the former coach of the French women’s Judo team took out an old charm with high symbolic value: her silver medal gleaned from the Olympic Games in Sydney in 2000. Amazed, the teenagers passed it around hands in hands by photographing it many times. The “little guy from 93” then had plenty of time to tell the story of the journey that led to his obtaining it.

“I started judo at the age of 10. I did it on the influence of my brothers who also did it. As cadets, I was far from being the best but through hard work I became world champion by beating guys who beat me ten years earlier”, said Larbi Benboudaoud. A value “important” was the watchword of his career: work. “I define myself as someone who needs work. I reached the top level quite late”he analyzes.

Paradoxically, because the rank in the discipline is more correlated with the values ​​of the spirit than with performance, Benboudaoud became a high-ranking officer (7th dan) quite young, at just 40 years old. In front of an attentive and interested audience, the Olympic vice-champion conveyed the simple values ​​inherent in judo and sport in general, such as respect and discipline. “There is no fatality! Everyone must be in tune with what they want. Each individual must take the path they want to take”he stated in conclusion.

A reception in the presence of part of the municipal team awaited him in the town hall, in the Salle des Etats du Languedoc. The one who seeks to have “a little pied-à-terre here” was given some local presents by the president of Alès Agglomeration, Christophe Rivenq, who insisted that “sport and culture are the two legs on which we want young people to develop”. Because this Saturday was “a party for judo”the athlete had an appointment in the middle of the afternoon at the Halle des Sports de Clavieres for tests and demonstrations in the presence of the licensees of the clubs of the city.

Corentin Migoule