After being on the senior team for six years and never getting past the heats, it was a huge breakthrough mentally.
Not only did she finally advance past the heats, placing sixth at 57.23, but she advanced all the way to the final, blasting a 57.00 in the semi-finals for the third overall seed. So in 2019 when she made the Worlds team for France, she knew this would be a major test for her needing to prove herself that she belonged after being disappointed in so many international meets.Īnd in Gwangju she blew her expectations out of the water. In 2017 after one year in Loughborough, she didn’t even qualify for the World Championships.
Maria wattel professional#
I never thought I could do what I do now in terms of times and I think Loughborough gave me the opportunity to be more professional and have more support.
I don’t think that was the case before because I didn’t really realize my potential. “I’m more mature now and I realized I really want to train like a professional athlete. Wattel trains with Ian Hulme at Loughborough University in Great Britain alongside Ulyett and other world class swimmers, and is taking her swimming more seriously. Photo Courtesy: Giorgio Scala/ Deepbluemedia /Insidefoto
Maria wattel free#
Wattel (far right) poses with a gold medal in the 4×100 free relay at the 2018 European Championships. It was tough but now it’s been three years and I feel really better now.” But at the beginning it was tough because I wanted to talk and show who the real Marie is, but it was complicated because I didn’t have the words to explain how I felt. “I really hoped to talk to people and translate something and now it is way better. When I asked her about it, she said she wanted to try it too and so we ended up both going and she really helped me get to know people because she was speaking the language.” “My best friend came with me to Loughborough. “I was better in math and science but I never worked on the language. Moving to a new country can be difficult, and going from France to Great Britain was no different for Wattel, who admits she didn’t take her English classes in school as seriously as she should have. Wattel moved to Loughborough in October 2016 with the intention of staying only two months to see if she would like it there.
So Wattel contacted one of her best friends, who had dual nationality with France and Great Britain, who suggested she try out the training at Loughborough University per the recommendation from world class British breaststroker Jocelyn Ulyett. “I thought maybe it was an opportunity to see something new and leave France.”Īfter watching British swimmers Adam Peaty, Jazz Carlin and Siobhan O’Connor win individual medals in Rio, as well as the British men pick up two silver medals in relays, she thought maybe the UK would be a place she could go and train. “I realized I didn’t want to train anymore in my French club,” Wattel told Swimming World while on a training camp in Fort Lauderdale. She had been on the French senior team for three years up to that point and had not advanced past the heats in the 100 butterfly at any of the Worlds or Olympics she competed in.Īfter training so hard for the Games, she took a month off from training and did some soul searching on what changes she would need to make for her career. Swimming in her first Olympics at 19, she finished 24th in the 100 butterfly, failing to make the semi finals. Marie Wattel had been a mainstay on the French national team leading up to the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio.
0 kommentar(er)
