Margaux Pinot speaks to franceinfo on Wednesday after her victory at the Judo Worlds in the less than 70 kg category.
Published on 05/22/2024 7:43 p.m.
Reading time: 2 min Margaux Pinot during the Tokyo Olympic Games, in August 2021. (BALLET PAULINE / KMSP)
“It’s a huge title for me. I’m very proud of it”, reacted Wednesday May 22 on franceinfo Margaux Pinot, crowned judo world champion under 70 kg. The 30-year-old Frenchwoman won gold, her first world title, by winning the final in Abu Dhabi against her compatriot Marie-Eve Gahié.
“I’ve been chasing this title for years,” says Margaux Pinot. “The final was very complicated because we are two French women, we train together, we know each other by heart.” Marie-Eve Gahié “is a very strong girl who was world champion in 2019”, greets the new world champion. But this final “complicated ended in a big victory for me. And that makes me very happy.” Margaux Pinot savors her title while thinking about those who accompanied her, “all the people who are there for me, my club, PSG, the army which is my sponsor, my friends, my family, my boyfriend who was there today to encourage me. So it’s all these people who also make this medal”.
A world title, “It’s something you only experience once in a lifetime.”underlines the judoka. “For my part, I think it’s the first time and perhaps the last time that I will be world champion. It’s huge today. Well in any case, I’m really enjoying this title.”
Margaux Pinot will follow the Olympic Games from afar, after her non-selection for Paris 2024, the French Federation having decided to send Marie-Eve Gahié, her opponent of the day. “I evacuated that in November when I learned of my non-selection”, admits the Frenchwoman. Its title is therefore “a form of revenge, for the work I do every day, the self-sacrifice I have, the resilience”. The Frenchwoman wanted‘”offer this reward which was ultra-important”. “I did it. It’s a very beautiful thing.”
In 2022, Margaux Pinot accused her former companion and trainer of domestic violence, before he was acquitted. Two years later and his title in his pocket, “there are lots of emotions mixed together”, confides Margaux Pinot. “It’s a story that broke me. I got back up because I had the strength to do so. I knew how to get back to work. I lost a lot of people who were dear to me, people who took the side of the other side.” The gold medal won in Abu Dhabi “proves that I have a certain inner strength that was expressed today”, assures the judoka. “I’m very proud of myself. I’m proud of what I managed to do.” But this victory at the world championships “is something that will remain engraved. It’s a title and it’s not nothing. There you go, I’m world champion”adds Margaux Pinot.
2024-05-22 20:49:52
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