(Photo D. Ghidoni) – Prescillia Lézé on the tatami at the Union sportif entraiguoise, where she has been training for 20 years.
Vaucluse Hebdo: You have been practicing judo for 20 years, what do the Olympic Games mean to you?
Prescillia Lézé: I started at two and a half years old, even before gradually losing my sight. This visual handicap didn’t stop me. I’m a competitor so obviously the Olympic Games, I’ve often thought about it. I missed the Tokyo Olympics due to an injury and cruciate ligament surgery.
So I’ve been dreaming of Paris for eight years. I am 24 years old, I have been part of the French para judo team since 2016, I’m aiming for the Gold medal, I want to make my coaches, my club and my parents proud. But if I’m here, it’s because I didn’t give up, I went through all the stages with self-sacrifice.
And even if officially the names of the participants in the Olympic Games will only be known on July 4, my position of 5th and the only Frenchwoman in my category on the world list gives me the hope of appearing in the quota of French athletes and of being able to show who I I’m on a tatami.
How does judo shape your daily life?
It’s true that I live sport and judo, it’s my cause, my leitmotif. I joined the Pôle France, in sports studies, in Marseille. I’m there Monday to Wednesday. Then on Thursday and Friday, I come back to work with my lifelong coaches at the Entraigues dojo.
I also participate in internships in other structures with the French team, in Dijon, Strasbourg, Bordeaux. I attend major para judo competitions and some able-bodied athletes, these are very good training for me. This rigor in my work allowed me to become European para judo champion, in August 2023 in Rotterdam.
But I will say that for the Olympics, my strong point, apart from the points and results, is my commitment to the competitions. I haven’t missed any, not even a training course. Some see it as a lot of sacrifices, I always answer that if you want, you can. And now I feel that I am ready for this big meeting. 2024 is my year.
Would you have liked to carry the flame on June 19 in Vaucluse?
Of course, the flame, I would have liked to be a torchbearer, I thought, for a time, that I would be chosen, but it seems not. It would have been an honor. Anyway, in my head, I’m already in Paris and I’m fighting for the gold-colored victory.
Once this objective is achieved, I will be able to devote myself partly to transmission within my Entraiguois club. The message I carry is that you must always believe in your dreams, in yourself and never give up.
2024-05-14 06:20:12
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