SLALOM IRELAND CADPA L'UNION DU SPORT EXCLUSIVE
Tuesday, 8th of January 2015
On the traces of his God. Liam Jegou, a 19-year-old Franco-Irish paddler from Huningue (France), is cut out to be the next best thing in terms of canoe slalom. In 2014, when he was only 18 years old, Liam finished 2nd at the ICF Junior & U23 Canoe Slalom World Championships. At the 2015 ICF World Championships in London, he was the youngest athlete to secure a spot in the C1 semi-finals as a senior... There are no doubts: the young Irishman has got the talent to qualify for Rio 2016, which would be his first Olympic Games and, maybe, become the first Irish C1 paddler on the Olympic podium. Liam Jegou provided an exclusive interview for L'Union du Sport, mentioning the mental aspect of the sport, comparing English and Irish to French canoeing and chatting about his biggest challenge: his "Road to Rio"!
SAINT-LOUIS, JEAN-MERMOZ HIGH SCHOOL (France), 8th January 2015. - Liam Jegou, a rising star from Ireland. (Selfie Liam Jegou/ Interviewee)
L'UNION DU SPORT Liam, you are a paddler for the French team CADPA Huningue. Could you explain in a few words what your sport is about?
My sport is canoe slalom. Basically, you're in a boat with a single paddle. There are twenty gates on a white water course and you have to go down all the gates as fast as you can without touching or missing them. If you touch a gate, it's 2-second penalty. If you miss one, it's a 50-second penalty. It's often very close, so if you miss a gate, it's pretty much over and if you touch a gate, you're putting yourself in difficulty.
You made your paddler debut with your father Marc Jegou, at the age of four. What relationship does your father have with canoeing?
My father was an athlete as well. He started paddling when he was very young, in Brittany. He didn't have the same goals as me, he was more of the all around paddler. He did the Freestyle World Championships in 1997 for France. I think his best result with the French slalom team was twenty-fifth, which is pretty good because the French slalom team is, in my opinion, the best team in the world.
Canoeing has several disciplines. As you just mentioned it, your main discipline is canoe slalom. What do you like about it?
Well, compared to sprint paddling, where it's always like 200 meters, where it's all about the power and you have to go straight; canoe slalom is never the same and the water changes all the time. In slalom, you really have to read the water, you have to work on your power. I just love it! You can do natural rivers and you can go on artificial rivers. That's what I like about the sport: it's never the same!
If you touch a gate while you are paddling: do you think about it until the end of the race?
We're trying not to. (the athletes; Editor's note) Compared to what you might think, slalom is a very mental sport. If you touch one of the first gates, gate 2 or 3: it can get to you. You might want to go faster and catch that time up. And that's exactly what you don't want to do. Personally, I try to forget about it and just paddle the way I would paddle without the touch. I try to keep my run as clean as possible and not to make any more mistakes.
Before you start a run: do you usually have a look on the other's performance, or does it disturb you if you look what the others have just done?
I try not to get into that sort of stuff but it depends... There are qualifications, semi-finals and finals. In the qualifications, I might look around, look at what
the others are doing. But as soon as I'm in the semi-finals or finals, I do my own thing and I try not to go ahead of myself.
"I'M TRAINING ONLY FOR THAT"
After finishing respectively fourth and sixth at the 2012 and 2013 Junior World Championships, you have reached the 2nd place in 2014. How did it feel to finally be on the podium?
It felt good! In 2012, I came to the World Championships in the United States and I didn't have that much ambition, I wasn't going for anything in particular. I just wanted to have fun and do my best. Making the final was already insane. Then, finishing fourth, at just 0.20 seconds from the podium got me even more into competition, it made me dream even more. The year after, that got to my head. Thinking that last year I was fourth and I could have been as fast as the best in the world. And maybe that's why I did not perform in the 2013 World Championships. When I went to Australia, I just reset everything. I just wanted to have fun again and enjoy the moment. Not everybody gets to go to Australia at eighteen, so I just went for it and it worked pretty well.
Liam explores the world. Here at the famous Sydney Opera House. (Selfie Liam Jegou)
How were you greeted by your mates of the CADPA after coming back from Australia with your silver medal?
It was great! They organised a little party for me which was nice. I also partied in Australia with my friends over there. Most of my friends are athletes from all
around the world, so we had a small get-together in Sydney.
When you are on a sports mission: do you have a ritual before a race?
I suppose I do have something that I would do before every race, like I try to eat the same things before each race. (pasta with a big fat steak; Editor's note) When
I know that it has worked once, I try to repeat it again and again. You know, race days are always the same for me. I try to stay composed, get warmed-up and watch my course. Usually, my dad
(Liam's coach; Editor's note) is really good with that. He manages me, so I don't panic.
The New Year just began. What are your sports plans for 2015?
2015 is a very important year for me because the first Olympic qualifiers are in September, at the World Championships in London. The top 10 nations will qualify for the 2016 Olympic Games, so that's the first opportunity for me to qualify for Rio. I'm training only for that. I'm not training for the U23 Europeans, where I would have a chance medaling or something like that. I'm just training for London and that's it.
When you prepare a C2 race: can you train alone, or do you have to have your partner with you?
I paddled C2 with Cade Ryan, a friend of mine from Dublin. We've been doing pretty well but the fact that we trained separately really kept us behind. He is studying
in Dublin, I'm studying here [in France]. I think it might be the end for me in C2. We both enjoyed our junior years together but now, if we can't train together, there's no point in getting as
good as the others. Furthermore, C2 is starting to disappear in our sport because of the Olympics. It's a complicated situation...
You won the 2011, 2012 and 2013 Irish Championships. What happened last year?
Last year, I didn't go to the Irish Championships because financially, I needed to save everything I could for Australia. Of course, I was pre-selected because of my
results of the previous year. But with my father, we decided not to go to Dublin.
Father and coach Marc Jegou (left), here after Liam's 2nd place at the 2014 International Canoe Federation Slalom Junior World Championships in Penrith, Australia. (Personal
photo of Liam Jegou)
And the three years before, what was the key to your success? Why could no one beat you?
Canoe slalom is getting better in Ireland, it's not what it was. We had really really good paddlers in time, guys who came fourth or fifth in the Olympics. But since 1996, canoe slalom is kind of dipped in our country. It's coming back up nowadays, there are two or three good C1 paddlers in Ireland right now. For the moment, I have a small advantage because I get to train on white water, I guess that's why I win the Irish Open. But the guys behind are going really hard. It's going to be interesting for the years to come.
Let's talk about training. How does your training year look like? Do you even train in winter?
Yes, all the time. It's different in the winter than in the summer. In the summer, it's all about competition, it's just race preparation. I do lactic stuff on the water and I just prepare for races, so technically. In the winter, when it's really cold, I do all the physical work: I go running, I do a lot of gym work and I go paddle on flat water. When it's not too cold outside, I do as much white water as I can.
You move a lot to England for training. What is different there from training in France?
I went to Nottingham and London for three weeks, just for training. It was interesting to see how the English prepare for their races and their competitions. I think that the way the French do it is so much better, their races really prepare me for everything. I owe a lot to the French. I always say that I'm proud to be Irish and all, but I'm also proud to be a little bit French as well.
"HE'S GOD"
You travel a lot because of your preparation. Could you imagine settling definitively down in England or Ireland one day? Or do you think that France, as you said, is much better for you?
I love France. It's a great country and for paddling it's amazing. Now, I do miss Ireland and I would like to go back there one day. Unfortunately, there is no white water course, no proper facility for me to train. If I pursue my dreams as being an Olympian or something like that, there wouldn't be any future for me in Ireland as an athlete. But I'm confident that in the years to come, there is going to be proper facilities for training. Anyway, if I become a respected athlete in Ireland someday, I'll do all my possible to get those infrastructures even though the guys on the committee are doing all their possible to make it happen right now.
A few months ago, you were nominated by the Olympic Council of Ireland to receive a scholarship support. What has changed in your preparation for Rio since you know that you will receive a financial assistance?
It's much easier. Doing sport like this is very expensive: the equipment, travelling a lot... Any kind of financial support is just amazing. (Laughs.) I went to England for three weeks of training, I might not have done that without the grant. It will also change a lot this summer, when I'll be needing to go and train in London. That's where the money is going to go.
Ireland never had a C1 paddler on the Olympic podium. Is it your goal to become the first Irish medallist in that discipline in 2016, or is it too early to
think something like that?
You can dream about everything. I'd love to, you know. It would be a dream come true! We came close in 1992, in Barcelona. I think our C1 paddler came 4th. (not
exactly, Mike Corcoran/IRL finished 12th; Editor's note) I'm a big fan of Tony Estanguet, our French legend in C1. He won his first Olympics at twenty-two. If I qualify for Rio, I won't be going
to make a final. (Giggles.) I definitely will be going, saying to myself: "Yeah, I wanna win." You don't go to a competition thinking that you just want to do that. No! You want to
perform.
He knows how a river works: Jegou Jr. (Personal photo of Liam Jegou)
You just mentioned Tony Estanguet. In France, canoe slalom was completely dominated by him. What does he symbolize for you?
Tony? He is a legend for everybody in the sport, not just for the French. His way of paddling was just different, he was always with the water. His technique and his approach to the sport changed so much for us. And even outside of the boat, such a nice guy! I was lucky enough to meet him a few times and you'd swear that he never won anything, that you are talking to a regular guy. But in the end, he's a legend. (Grins.) I've always watched his videos, I always wanted to paddle like him. That's what he represents for me, he is just... God. (Chuckles)
"PUT YOUR ASS IN A BOAT AND GO FOR IT!"
Have you ever dreamed of holding the Irish flag by the 2016 Olympic Opening Ceremony?
That's probably not going to happen. (Laughs.) It's not something that I think about all the time. But obviously, if I become an Olympian and it works for me, it's something that I would think about more and more.
You are going to pass your school exams in June. After that, what will you do to prepare the "Road to Rio" in the best conditions?
After my exams... First, I'll try and pass my exams successfully. I study hard for them. But nothing's going to change, I'm going to train as much as I usually would. I will have the the time to do it and I'm confident that I will manage everything pretty well.
Is it difficult for you to focus on paddling and school at the same time?
It's getting more difficult, to be honest. It's not something that bothered me when I was in secondary school. But when I got to high school, it was something different. All the school work and the paddling... Coming back from training
at eight or half past eight and then telling yourself that you still have an hour, two hours of homework, that I won't do... That was difficult. And even right now, it's difficult to find the
motivation to do everything. In my mind, I just want to go paddling, go training. What I do in school, I really don't like it. I'm just trying to get by.
Let's pretend I would like to start my paddle career tomorrow. I've never paddled before. Which advice could you give me?
You clearly have to be persistent because canoe slalom, especially in white water, is one of those sports
which is very difficult to learn if you don't start young. Not physically, but all the
moves, identifying how a river works, how to use the water and not to work against it, but work with it. You have to try, there is no other way. Put your ass in a boat and go for
it!
Liam, thank you very much!
Thanks man!
MICHAEL GHERARDI
For more information and to keep up with Liam's results, make sure to follow him on his Facebook and on the official Facebook page of the CADPA.
I'd like to thank Benjamin Nato. Without his insider tip, this interview would not have been possible.
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