Paris 2024 Olympics: French athlete Clara Copponi hopes to win big next year on home turf - video Dailymotion

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00:00 have the pleasure of being joined by one of them, Clara Copponi, a road and track cyclist

00:05 that currently riding for FDJ Suez. Thank you so much, Clara, for joining us here this

00:10 evening. We started the show looking at when Paris won the bid to host these games back

00:16 in 2017. If my maths is correct, you were 18 back then. Did you ever imagine that you'd

00:24 be potentially competing at the Games on home turf?

00:28 My head was already in Tokyo, so I was hoping to do it for Paris. It was already in my head

00:38 the day they said it was in Paris.

00:41 And obviously with this being a Games on home turf, it's a lot more excitement, but it's

00:45 also a lot more pressure. How do you feel about competing next year?

00:50 I feel confident for the moment. I think, yes, it will be a lot of pressure, but I hope

00:56 positive pressure and with all the country here for us. I'm looking forward to compete.

01:07 I hope to compete.

01:08 Exactly. On that note, because obviously you haven't technically qualified yet for the

01:13 Olympics, there's obviously a lot of preparation that goes into that beforehand. You've decided,

01:19 for instance, not to compete in this year's Tour de France and instead focus more on the

01:23 Glasgow World Championship. Can you tell us a bit more about that preparation with a year

01:27 to go and how you get to Paris next year?

01:31 I have a lot of races on the road, but also a lot of races in the beginning of the year

01:37 on the track. We have a choice to do in good shape, in a good moment. I think one year

01:47 before the Olympics, it was important to be on the track and to prepare for this World

01:55 Championship like I will prepare for Tokyo next year.

02:00 Just looking at what you've been doing over the past year, it seems like a very, very

02:04 busy year. You've obviously got your commitments with your team, FDG, as well as the French

02:09 team to make sure that you get the points to qualify for the Olympics next year. How

02:15 do you juggle it all?

02:17 It's not easy every day. It's a lot of training, a lot of pressure. You have to be in good

02:24 shape during the road race, but also on the track. It's a lot of travel also. I have a

02:33 lot of motivation. I want to compete on the road to be able to win also. Same on the track.

02:41 It's a lot of training.

02:45 Very hard work indeed. So let's talk about the two disciplines you competed in back in

02:52 Tokyo 2021, the Madison and the Omnium. Could you quickly explain for our viewers who maybe

02:57 aren't big cycling experts exactly what those disciplines are?

03:02 For the Madison, we are two. There is a 13 km. Each 10 days we have a sprint and it's

03:11 the one with the most points who wins the race. For the Omnium, it's a classification

03:22 with four races. It's the scratch, the tempo, elimination and the sprint race. The one with

03:33 the most points wins also the race.

03:36 And obviously you're only 24, but this is actually going to be your second Olympics.

03:41 Obviously next year you competed back in 2021 at Tokyo. You came fifth in the Madison and

03:47 you said you were quite disappointed at the time with the result. You were the vice champion

03:51 in the other discipline in the World Championships. As an athlete, how do you pick yourself up

03:56 from disappointment and use it as motivation for the next time?

03:59 Today I can't say it's a disappointment. At the moment, when I was in Tokyo, of course

04:05 I was there for the win. But also I was young with my teammate. We were young. She was also

04:13 20 years old. So it was a disappointment because you expect a lot of yourself and it didn't

04:22 go well because fifth in the Olympics at 21 years old. I think everyone can imagine that

04:32 we want this place. But today it's like, OK, I was in the best shape of my life at this

04:43 moment. Only fifth, only. And maybe next year it will be my time. 25 years old, it's my

04:51 time.

04:52 You're still in your prime, certainly, for me at least. So I have to ask, obviously for

04:56 next year, what is the goal for you in Paris?

05:00 To be honest, to win a gold medal. I think three. If everything went well for me in the

05:10 team pursuit, Omnium and Madison, I want three gold medals. It's my dream.

05:15 You've got to dream big, especially when it's on home turf. Clara will be coming back to

05:21 you later on.

Paris 2024 Olympics: French athlete Clara Copponi hopes to win big next year on home turf

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