The Olympic flame arrives in the Pyrénées-Orientales this Wednesday, May 15. At the top of Canigou, Laurent Satabin will be responsible for launching this energy which will run through the department throughout the day. A fair reward for his commitment and his high-level career in judo.
“Magnificent, fabulous, a dream, a synthesis of my life”. These are the words that come to Laurent Satabin’s mind when we talk to him about the Olympic flame. Because he will be the first to wear this iconic symbol of the Games in the Pyrénées-Orientales. “It’s magical to be the first, it’s magical to be at the top of Canigou!“At around 7 a.m. Wednesday morning, he will share this honor with Thibaut Vidal, a Catalan maths teacher who climbed Kilimanjaro a few months ago.
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Laurent Satabin, for his part, collects a mountain of titles but in a completely different field. A sixth dan black belt in judo at the age of 41, he shone on the tatamis all over the world before retraining in a completely different field. “Carrying the flame is a link between the past, my dreams as a former top athlete and the missions I have today as departmental referent for nature and mountain sports.“A choice which is not a coincidence given the pedigree of the man who is now a senior technical and educational advisor to the Departmental Service for Youth, Engagement and Sports of the Pyrénées-Orientales (SDJES 66).
An accomplished high-level athlete
At 15, Laurent Satabin joined Insep (National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance). When he thinks back to this time, the future great judoka that he was speaks of it with a touch of nostalgia. “In 1985, I was just a kid (he was then 13 years old and had to fight in the junior category, Editor’s note) but I won the French junior championship in Toulouse. I was really delighted, especially since I had received the medal for best technician which was given to me by Alain Mimoun. Except that during the day, there was a complaint because I was too young and the title of French champion was taken away from me but I still kept the medal. It was both the most beautiful moment but also the saddest.“Titles, the graduate from Épinay-sur-Sénart (Essonne) will win many others with multiple national crowns or even the Francophonie Games, in 1991, in Niger, at only 19 years old.”I had a high-level career which was off to a very good start and quite earlyhe remembers, but overnight I slowed things down, it surprised a lot of people.” Grieving by the death of his father in 1994, he nevertheless continued judo at a high level until the turn of the 2000s.
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Like the great sportsman that he is, Laurent Satabin got back up. A reconstruction which found its source on Catalan soil. “In 1999, I moved to the Pyrénées-Orientales after an internship that we had done in 1991 in Canet-en-Roussillon for the preparation of the Junior World Championships and then, regularly, we did the team internships from France to Perpignan.“In Roussillon, he will realize one of his childhood dreams, becoming a judo teacher to pass on his passion thanks also, and he is keen to do so, with the support of Pierre-Henry De Mozas, a reference in the field and committed for the inclusiveness of judo.I was going to cut ties with the world of judo when I left the high level and it was Pierre-Henry De Mozas who pushed me to re-engage in judo. I found myself in him and his values.“Hyperactive by nature as he describes himself, Laurent Satabin successively set up a judo school in Alénya and the Perpignan Samouraï Club. He also took over the Cabestany club and each time the number of licensees took off.
Coach of the French jujitsu team
An activity serving clubs in the region which attracted the attention of Eugène Domagata, then technical director in charge of jujitsu at the Federation. After being trained and qualified, the adopted Catalan became coach of the French teams and once again reached the top. “Jujitsu has been important to me, through the athletes I have supported during the world championships and World Games. In 2009 in Taiwan, for my last world games, out of the eight athletes I accompanied, four finished gold medalists and three bronze.“In 2012, after 23 world championship medals, including eleven gold, and five gold medals at the World Games, he turned the page as national coach to devote himself to his family.
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However, there is no question of resting for the one to whom “work is not scary“. Back in the OP, he became involved with the department as a referent for outdoor sports and the National Sports Agency (ANS). For almost fifteen years now, he has worked for the development of sport, the preservation and development of the mountains in 66, without forgetting its origins. Engaged with his friend Pierre-Henry De Mozas within the Judo Entente Canohès Toulouges (JECT), he participates in “.a project around the inclusion of people with disabilities through judo to help them discover the magic of the Olympic Games“. For two weeks during the Olympic and Paralympic Games, around fifty of them will be in Paris as part of this project started three years ago. But before that, Laurent Satabin will experience the magic of the Games, from Wednesday, top of the legendary Canigou.
2024-05-13 15:32:04
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