Benjamin Mize: “We are a federation that the competition looks at with a special eye towards games held on our home soil.”

Le pape-info: Benjamin, what state of mind are you in as DTN for a French team that has never been so strong?

Benjamin’s maze: I am very excited, we want and we cannot wait to be there at these Olympic and Paralympic Games in Paris 2024. We have been training for a very long time, preparing ourselves and planning this project because we know that Paris will host the Games, a unique event in the career of a national athlete, coach and coach. .

When we have a 2023 season like this with 8 medals with our Paralympic athletes and 4 at the Olympics with the restrictions of ignoring the World Championships for the mixed relay, a discipline in which we took bronze at the last Olympics (Tokyo in 2021), we are obviously excited because there This ambition is increasingly assertive.

Pope Information: Ambition, humility and work are the slogans of the upcoming season

BM: It’s good to be medal winners, world champions in 2023, and we know things can change, and we have competitors who want to beat us. We are full of humility because except for Alexis Hanquinquant, the Paralympic champion, all the others can do better, Alexis himself is very involved, involved in this fun for two years of accompanying him on the podiums Pierre-Antoine Bayle. It’s a healthy competition that we uphold within the French teams and be able to maintain so that each other can rise.

Le Pope-info: The French team is being scrutinised, monitored by rival nations such as the British and others with ambition

BM: Yes, it is clearly the British who won the Paris test last August for women and men with a total of 3 medals, and the New Zealanders and Americans who took 7 medals in the paratriathlon, one less than France. Many countries analyze this French Triathlon Federation which has not always existed in the Olympic or Paralympic Games but has always evolved from Olympics to Olympics. The density of results means that when it’s not the Olympics that shine, it’s the Paralympics, Next Generation, European Youth Champions, World Students, Juniors, Long Distance Triathlon, Short Duathlon… With all these results many countries are wondering what… It happens in France, so what do they understand? We are an association that the competition looks at especially when we play at home, and it is interesting to look at this contrast between this impression of great strength and these small weaknesses that can make the difference. That is why we remain full of humility.

Le pape-info: We realized during the demo event that the competition would be tough in the games

BM: We will have to be at the top, as there are a few athletes, such as the injured Olympic champion, Flora Duffy, who was absent, as well as Britain’s Georgia Taylor-Brown, the vice-Olympic champion. We know some will come back stronger. Others have made calendar choices not to attend such as Taylor Knipp or Olympic champion Christian Blumenfelt who combined 2023 with long distance and Olympic distance events. What happened in 2023 is very good, if we have more confidence it is good, it is part of the past now we have to look forward to the games. Consider preparing for this competition and taking advantage of the intermediate competitions with the World Championship stages to improve your preparations and obtain selection confirmation criteria.

Pope Information: What is the successful year 2024?

BM: A year in which all Olympic and Paralympic selections come back with a smile. It is a wish, perhaps a bit naive, but for me my greatest pride is that all these athletes say to themselves, I am proud of what I have achieved in these Games, I gave the best performance I was able to give with the capabilities available to me, I know I gave everything I could in terms of resources, I was able to have the support of my coach, the club and my federation and I am proud of what I achieved. If this leads to medals, and why not one or more from Marseille, I will be the first to be happy.