Biathlon: Martin Fourcade’s secrets
This Tuesday, Martin Fourcade made the front page of L’Equipe newspaper. Although he was a regular when he achieved his countless feats on the biathlon stadiums from 2010 to 2020, the Catalan had not experienced this honour for many years.
The seven-time winner of the crystal globe and six-time Olympic champion gave a long interview to our journalists. In it, Martin Fourcade, now 37, agreed to talk about a number of subjects. Among them, of course, was his renunciation, which caused quite a stir at the time, of his bid to become President of the Organising Committee for the 2030 French Alps Olympic and Paralympic Games.
“It was a choice. I wasn’t ready to make any compromises,” he explains. I took it on knowing that it would also be an earthquake in my lifestyle. I know what it cost, having seen and experienced it with Tony Estanguet in the Paris 2024 adventure. I was very lucid. On the other hand, I was ready for things, but for a project that suited me and that I fully embraced. Not a project where I’d be going backwards a bit. Giving up was a very hard decision to make. But I didn’t want to lie to myself about it. “
“I needed to take a deep breath, enjoy my loved ones and refocus before emerging from my cave”.
The former biathlete explained that he wanted to follow in the footsteps of Tony Estanguet, the omnipotent boss of Paris 2024 from the sporting movement. “Some people didn’t like the fact that Tony [Estanguet] was able to take on such an important role. For me, it was a source of pride to see a sportsman embody this project and take courageous decisions,” he says, even though he headed the Paris 2024 Athletes’ Commission. Tony [Estanguet] has been the guarantor of the coherence of Paris 2024. I couldn’t imagine running the 2030 Games using any other method.
Later in the interview, Martin Fourcade cracks the armour, saying: “I was bruised. I don’t want to hide it. I’ve had a complicated few months. I needed to take a deep breath, enjoy my loved ones and refocus before emerging from my cave. I’m thinking about what to do next. I’ve got some ideas.
So the former king of biathlon stadiums still wants to put his stamp on the French Alps 2030 project , now headed by 1992 Olympic mogul skiing champion Edgar Grospiron.
“I don’t see how I can live without it, given my commitment to the IOC [he has been an IOC member since 2022, editor’s note], the projects I’m building with my partners, and my house twenty minutes from Le Grand-Bornand. I’m still close to the athletes; my brother Simon is the coach of the French biathlon team. A lot of things take me back to 2030. This project doesn’t live far from me,” he concludes.
- French Alps 2030: will Martin Fourcade be chairman of the organising committee?
- French Alps 2030: Martin Fourcade will not be President of the Organising Committee for the Olympic and Paralympic Games
- French Alps 2030 | Martin Fourcade steps down as COJOP president: what the press has to say
- “Le Grand-Bornand in front of all the French fans could have been a great experience, but…” Why Martin Fourcade has decided to receive his sixth Olympic gold medal in Antholz, during the 2026 Olympics.
