Lucille Gicquel BEN LAMARE
In terms of results, the strongest is his father. Eight times French high jump champion between 1987 and 1995, Jean-Charles Gicquel still holds the national indoor record, at 2.35 m. But volleyball player Lucille Gicquel, 26, takes after her mother, Anne. “She’s the sportiest in the family.she says. She is the only one to have practiced both disciplines, volleyball and high jump, as an amateur, before devoting herself to her studies. She never stops. » This summer, Lucille Gicquel will compete in the Olympic Games (July 26-August 11) with Les Bleues; a great first for the team automatically qualified as representative of the host country. Jean-Charles, for his part, has never taken part in the high mass of world sport.
The story does not end there. Solène, 29 years old – five times French champion and finalist at the world championships in Budapest in 2023 – could join her sister in the athletes’ village, if she manages to qualify for the high jump event. Add to the group Clément, the eldest of the siblings – who won the title of French indoor champion in March at height, with a jump of 2.15 m –, and the panorama is complete. “In the family, we have a great time! »summarizes Father Gicquel in the jargon of jumpers.
At home, sports were not an option. “We had to practice, but we had complete freedom to choose which discipline, and the priority was not to compete”, said Solène. While she and Clément try football, judo and gym, then devote themselves to high jumping, Lucille experiments with dance, gymnastics and handball. Then, around 12-13 years old, a tachycardia problem encouraged him to reorient himself towards a less brutal activity: volleyball.
Even if her height (she measures 1.89 m today) is the advantage, the beginnings are difficult. “I lacked skill and coordination. During the first training sessions, I didn’t even know the rules”, remembers the person concerned. She hangs on, and progress is all the more rapid as volleyball will become, for the self-conscious teenager, a way to break out of her shell. “I went through a difficult time, it wasn’t easy being the tallest in school, she explains. I was ungrateful to my parents, I argued with my sister. Sport allowed me to build myself. There was one area where I felt like I was important. »
One of the best points in the A League
After a year at the Rennes Etudiants Club volleyball, near the family home, she joined the Pôle France, in Châtenay-Malabry (Hauts-de-Seine). Then joined, in 2013, the Federal Volleyball Institute of Toulouse. In the Pink City, she slides from the position of central to that of pointy. As the main attacker, it is now her responsibility to finish points with her smashes. In 2015, at just 17 years old, she signed her first professional contract, with RC Cannes. For three years on the Côte d’Azur, she sat on the bench, but won the Coupe de France in 2016 and 2018.
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2024-03-22 05:00:18
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