By Veronique Bury FIG Editor.
WHAT A MEDAL
Beijing (CHN) NIS FIG Office, August 14, 2008: Since the day in 1920 when Marcos Torrès and Jean Gounot took the Silver and Bronze medals respectively in Anvers, France has been hard put to reach the podium in an Olympic all-around competition. Benoît Caranobe succeeded Thursday with the flair of a deserving artist.
This is truly an historic moment for France, and the fruit of a young man's exceptional career, a man who is both shy and ambitions, and who's looking to capture yet another medal in vault on Tuesday.
It didn't hit him right away. 'I don't know what to say. My nerves are fried. I'm tired from the event, and the exhilaration of hearing that I'd won the Bronze put me over the edge. It'll probably hit me in time. The thing is, it isn't only a Gold medal to me; it represents so many things. I've struggled so much these past few years. And when I think of all the times I wanted to quit, today means even more.'
That's an understatement!
Benoît Caranobe has not felt the rush of securing a place on the individual podium at an international level since his first participation in an international senior event at the 2001 Universiades of Beijing, where he triumphed in the vault final, beating even China's Yang Wei. A three-time all-around champion of France (2003 and 2004) and European Bronze team medallist in 2004, Caranobe excels in vault (he'll be participating in the final on Tuesday, August 18). But he had nearly hung up his gloves in 2005 after having surgery on his shoulder, enduring six months without training, suffering through personal crises and having been held at gunpoint by two young delinquents under a bridge.
With a seven-kilo weight loss, the French gymnast had 'lost confidence and was beginning to ask himself some hard questions'. But his passion for gymnastics overrode long months of prevarication. 'When you practise high-level gymnastics, it becomes a part of you,' explained Benoît. 'When I was injured, not being able to train made me sick. I needed it. I might have had a harder time getting over the challenges that came my way if I hadn't already practised high-level gymnastics. Gymnastics taught me how to surpass myself.' And since placing 17th in the all-around in Athens, Benoît has felt a pull to compete for yet another medal. 'Since 2004, I've thought of nothing but returning to the Olympic Games and winning at an international level,' he admitted a year ago at a time when the frustration of having injured himself while on the brink of success was still fresh in his mind.
So it happened that month after month Benoît persevered and sacrificed as he struggled to regain the physical condition and orientation he knew as a high-level gymnast, in order to participate in the Stuttgart world championships in September with the French team. Benoît Caranobe hadn't set his sights on Beijing's all-around podium. He would have been thrilled with fourth or fifth place. But as Thursday dawned, the usually anxious and timid Frenchman gave the 'performance of his life'. Elated, Caranobe had a hard time finding the words to describe how he felt as he exited the competition hall. 'I wanted to give a flawless performance. I didn't stop to consider either scores or rankings, and when I made a fist after my last floor exercise it was because I was satisfied with myself and with my work. I hadn't given a competition like that for four years!'
It was only once he'd looked up at the scoreboard and saw that Germany's Fabien Hambuechen had missed his twisting Kovacs at the horizontal bar that he finally realised what he had just done. 88 years after the Olympic glory of Marcos Torrès, a Frenchman had finally reached the men's all-around competition podium once again.
Then came tears of joy.
