La Croix: What gets you up in the morning?
Clément Breysse: The desire to discover the destinies that will be written, live, before my eyes. In the institution where I work, a student can reveal himself by having a flash of genius or by landing an unexpected contract, another can lose his temper violently for an unknown reason. I am here to try to understand them, support them, guide them.
During a sporting competition, it’s an athlete competing for the world championships who collapses in a corner or an unknown woman who comes out of nowhere and beats the favorites soundly. My role as speaker this time is to share the emotion that it brings, from disappointment to joy, including surprise or frustration. No day is written in advance. Once you understand that, it’s impossible to fall into routine!
At work, how is it going?
C. B. : One day, someone said to me: “ If you no longer have an adrenaline rush before going to work, you need to change jobs “. She is still there, before entering a class like a stadium. My working environment, on the other hand, has evolved a lot. In terms of education, the young person is still the same, but people’s outlook is changing: society is strict and demanding, but it increasingly values atypical paths, less linear and less elitist.
On the animation side, technology has changed everything. Before, only the major competitions were broadcast live and for the rest, you had to wait for the next day’s newspaper before knowing the results. Today, the majority of events are accessible, which allows you to discover less famous disciplines and athletes. Finally, we’re starting to give a little more emphasis to performances that we didn’t value or only little!
Who do you trust?
I have deep hope in youth, despite everything we try to reproach them for, here and there. The new generation is able to get involved and get involved. At work, I remember the day after the tragedy of Charlie Hebdo : there was, on the part of the students, a real uprising for freedom of expression. This moment moved me. In the same way, French athletics has gone through complicated times in recent years, but there are young athletes, full of talent, who don’t give up. You just have to give them time to hatch.
I owe everything to those who trusted the “new people”. I remember the words of the director of the first establishment who hired me: “ We must believe in the educability of each young person.” As for the first organizer who gave me a check, he thanked a former animation team for entrusting me with the microphone, when I was barely 20 years old.
Did a scene stand out to you recently?
The exact moment when, during the Tokyo 2021 Games, Mutaz Barshim and Gianmarco Tamberi hugged each other. These are two high jumpers, one Qatari, the other Italian, friends in life, who arrived in perfect equality and shared the gold medal. This moment brings together everything that sport is, before being a business. More recently, I hosted a meeting in Paris during which three world records were broken. In the stands, 18,000 people screamed with joy. My speaker colleague and I looked at each other and said: “But what are we going through? “. Just the heart of our job: transforming an individual exploit into a collective emotion.
What could change your life right now?
Even if I could, I wouldn’t change anything in my life. I have a job that I enjoy, a hobby that I enjoy, a wife that I love, and a healthy child. When I take a look at the world around me, at its miseries and its horrors, it is already enormous. I feel privileged. Well, I’m sometimes a little blocked by my level of English, for interviews… so if I could become bilingual, that would be great (laughs) !
Taking part in the Olympics, for you, is…?
A childhood dream. Last year, I tried not to think about it, especially since I had no power, not even the power to apply: it is the international federation which investigates and chooses. At the time of the announcement, my family helped me keep my feet on the ground: they are extremely proud but reminded me that above all, it was what I deserved, because I had worked for it.
Today, I try to tell myself that it’s an event like any other. One of my fondest memories dates back to a small championship which took place in the depths of Brittany. A young woman unknown to the battalion had won the hopeful race hands down, and when she came to debrief on set, she burst into tears while telling us that her mother sold all her furniture and clothes to pay for her shopping. Everyone had goosebumps!
A few months later, she found partners to accompany her. In short, I know it will be a strong moment, but I will try to apply one rule: host the Olympics like any local competition. Finally, the reality is that any neighborhood competition deserves to be animated like the Olympics!
