INTERVIEW – French basketball player Laëtitia Guapo, who only has gold in mind at the 2024 Olympics, talks about the profitable work of this group of 8 players dedicated to 3×3, launched by the Federation.
It is on Place de la Concorde, with a view of the Eiffel Tower, that 3×3 basketball will take up residence this summer, like BMX Freestyle, breaking and skateboarding. At the 2024 Paris Olympics, the French women’s team will represent a great chance of a medal. Three years after a 4th place in Tokyo, the Blues, world champions in 2022 and vice-champions in 2023, are openly aiming for gold, in the wake of their leader Laëtitia Guapo, ex-world No. 1 in the FIBA ranking.
The fullback from Bourges (28 years old, 1.82 m) put his career at 5×5 “in parentheses” for one year. Last summer, she joined, with 7 other players, an Olympic preparation group launched by the French Basketball Federation (FFBB) to dedicate to 3×3. She is seeing the results today, having won, with Marie-Ève Paget, Anna Ngo Ndjock and Malou De Kerget, the international pro circuit that is the Pro League 3×3 in Toulouse on April 1st.
LE FIGARO – This season, you joined an Olympic preparation group for the 3×3. How did the transition happen?
It was the Federation which decided to professionalize a team to best prepare for the Olympics. It’s true that in 2021 for Tokyo, we were not able to prepare for the Games optimally because we were in 5×5 during the season. There, I think they wanted to put all the chances on their side, knowing that it’s also in Paris. They decided to create this professional team by removing some girls from their clubs. There, we can really become experts in the discipline.
How did you react to this initiative from the Federation?
Having experienced Tokyo, I wanted to take my revenge and have no regrets. For me, accepting this federal contract was a somewhat logical choice. I didn’t think about it for very long, I jumped into the breach and I was so happy to be part of this project. I want to go and get the most beautiful medal in Paris. Coming back empty-handed from Tokyo with a chocolate medal was quite difficult to accept. Marie-Ève (Paget) experienced it with me. We are more determined than ever to take our revenge.
How did it go with the Bourges club?
I am still under contract with Bourges. I had re-signed until 2026 so it’s as if the first year of this new contract had been put on hold. I know where I will be next year. It sure helps me to invest fully in this 3×3 project because at least my mind isn’t elsewhere, thinking about my future. I’m quite calm in that regard. It was difficult to let go of them, but they know my love for 3×3 and they don’t hold it against me too much. I still have my house there, I train there when I’m on off-duty week.
We live out of our suitcases, but I still have my home base and my drop-off point in Bourges. It’s very comfortable.
Laëtitia Guapo
Did you have to move when agreeing to join this preparation group?
No, we live each where we already lived. When we are on discharge, we train from wherever we want. It’s cool because I can benefit from CREPS (Expertise and Sports Performance Resource Center) of Bourges and other infrastructures to carry out my preparation. We live out of our suitcases, but I still have my home base and my drop-off point in Bourges. That too is very comfortable.
Apart from the weeks when you have tournaments all over France and around the world, how do you manage training? Do you still have group sessions?
We really train together a lot. After Christmas, I didn’t return to Bourges for 3 months. We went through Voiron, Vichy, Lille, Mongolia, Toulouse… Among that, we had a few days where we were on discharge from home. But the goal is that we train as much as possible together to become automatic. Typically on a work day it will be physical, cardio or strength training in the morning, and more group work in the evening. We’re together 24 hours a day and it’s like you’re with your work colleagues all the time. You sleep, you eat and then you train with them. It still feels good to have these days, we are happy to leave each other but also to meet again afterwards, it’s really the right balance. And honestly the discharge is really not rest. We take the opportunity to work on other skills.
You are in a relationship with Franck Seguela. How do you both manage this preparation?
It has exactly the same schedule but not necessarily in the same places. However, we have the same objective. We sometimes train together. It’s very motivating to be able to share that, we push each other and challenge ourselves all the time since we are extremely competitive. But we don’t just talk about that either, we have other projects, notably our basketball camp, we are building our house… There are quite a few things that take us out of this routine of training courses with our respective teams. It allows you to disconnect a little. It doesn’t hurt. But we don’t worry too much when we can’t see each other, when we go to the other side of the world… We don’t wonder if we miss each other or not. We know it’s the year or never, we’re both super determined and we push each other as hard as we can.
3×3 is really the discipline that transcends me, I never find myself in the same states as in these matches.
Laëtitia Guapo
There are 8 players in this preparation group. There will only be 4 places at the Games. How to manage this? Do you take part in each competition, do you work on all possible combinations?
Yes, in training we try to play with everyone, we vary the associations. The coaches try to see everyone with everyone, to see which players work well together and thus see the strong and weak points of each potential team.
You had already been competing in 3×3 for several years. What has changed in your preparation now that you are devoting yourself to the discipline?
For the record, in Lille (during the 1st stage of the Pro League in February, editor’s note) we were during the week with the French team, so there were 5×5 girls who were there too. And there, when they played with us, we saw that we were really specialized in 3×3, that we had less difficulty than the 5×5 girls in the 12-second effort and 10-minute matches. In this tournament, in my team, there was Camille Droguet (player from Tarbes in LFB, editor’s note). The other two and I were only doing 3x3s. Camille told us all the time that she felt a little lost, she had the impression that we were carrying her, she was dead each time and she didn’t understand how we managed to stay in shape. There we saw that all the work done specifically for this discipline paid off.
I didn’t necessarily have a cardio problem, but I think I’ve made further progress. Not in the sense that I can do a marathon, but in the effort and intensity required for 3×3. It shows us that we didn’t leave 5×5 for nothing. I really put all the chances on my side and it’s paying off, it’s bearing fruit.
How do you see the rest of your career after the Games?
(She thinks) Frankly, I admit that I didn’t ask myself the question at all. At the moment I’m really only focused on the Olympics. I am obviously reassured to know that I will come back to Bourges, to a club that I know, I already have my house so there is no need to move etc. It takes away things that could parasitize my mind. Afterwards for the French teams, to see what the coaches and the federation will decide. Maybe they will want to renew with young players, I don’t really know. The goal is the Games, and I will ask myself all these questions afterwards. It will also depend on whether we win a medal, whether I am included in the team, whether I have achieved my goals…
Regarding the French team, have you ever had contact with the 5×5 staff?
Yes, often, but I told them that my goal was to compete in the Games with 3×3. It’s my choice and it’s really the discipline that transcends me, I never find myself in the same states as in these matches. That’s really what I like. My dream was to be a 3×3 pro, it was achieved this year. Afterwards my dream will perhaps be to become professional again, in a project not necessarily Olympic with a professional team like the boys can have. But yes, for the moment, I really chose the 3×3.
