“No one ever explains to you what will happen to you the day you stop.” life after the Olympics by Maureen Nysima

It is with a broad smile that Maureen Nissima greets us at the end of a sunny July morning. He arranged to meet us in Montreux, Saint-Saint-Denis, at his partner’s artist studio, a few kilometers from the apartment in Rosny-sous-Bois, where they had recently moved. Maureen will celebrate her 43rd birthday on July 30, 2024. However, he has already retired. “When I say that, people think it’s a joke. But I am very serious. I have been involved in sports at a high level for 35 years. It’s a real career,” he exclaims. And for good reason, the forty-year-old is a former fencer. And not just anyone. This is evidenced by his experience until one arm. French individual champion in 2001, European champion in 2002, world runner-up in 2003, double Olympic medalist in 2004, etc.

“It was like a disguise for me.”

However, nothing had predisposed this 1.65 meter woman from Martinique to such a journey… except perhaps a certain family appetite for sports. “My grandfather ran the Paris marathon, my grandmother ran regularly, my mother ran…” he says. But Mori is more attracted to the artistic world. As a little girl, she was enrolled in a school for children’s plays until a family move made the facility unavailable. “I’m 6 years old and I don’t know what to do anymore to let off steam, so I do stupid things,” he recalls. So much so that his parents quickly started looking for new activities to keep him busy. The solution is presented to the forum of associations in their adopted city. “I get there in my skirt and my patent shoes and they tell me, “Here, put it on!” I wear a mask, a jacket and they give me foil. It was like a disguise for me, I was the happiest.” The first lines of his story related to fencing are written like this:

“I wanted to become a champion”

“But there were few of us girls who practiced this sport, which was not very popular in Sevran-Bodot or Aulnay-sous-Bois. When I was crossing my town in uniform to go to training, they looked at me a bit like a “strange” in the neighborhood,” he jokes, who will be nicknamed “Mosquito” or “Pimus”. But very quickly the 7-year-old girl developed a strong competitive spirit. “The matches in this category were mixed because there were few girls. Seeing the boys cry when they lost to a girl was my main source of motivation,” he admits with a laugh. Over the years, little Maureen grows up and progresses, moving from departmental to regional competitions. But at the age of 14, tired, he left everything. “I was tired, I felt like I was losing my youth, I was never available for my friends’ birthdays,” she explains.

Two years later, he picked up his sword again when something clicked during the Atlanta Olympics. “It was the summer of 1996, I was watching the games with my family from Martinique. That year, two French fencers, Laura Flessel and Valerie Barlois, reached the podium. I wanted to be in their place, I wanted to become a champion.” At 16, Maureen returned to the gun room, juggling between finishing high school (with no set schedule), training three times a week, and competing on weekends. “My teachers told me I would never get my bachelor’s degree. I received it with honor, he explains with a smile.

“I was absolutely not the favorite”

Diploma in hand, Maureen has only one idea: to accumulate victories and medals. Along with her higher studies, she gradually rose through the ranks of French and international fencing until she reached the world number two ranking behind the woman who made her want to pick up the sword, Laura Flessel. After becoming French champion in 2001, European champion in 2002 and world runner-up in 2003, in 2004 he fulfilled his boyhood dream by climbing the Olympic podium…twice. At the Olympic Games in Athens, the French fencer won a bronze medal in the individual and team epee competitions. “I finished third against a Hungarian who had beaten me all year. I was by no means the favourite, but I was the one who stood on the podium in the country that saw the birth of the Olympic Games. Receiving an olive crown, at that moment, in that place, meant a lot to me.”

After Athens, the harvesting of medals continues. In 2010, the fencer won the world championship under the sail of the Grand Palais in Paris. A win that lands him on the daily front page The team and in the meantime, an invitation to shoot the show “On n’est pas couch” by Laurent Rouquier. During the interview, the presenter of France 2 reveals that she is looking for a job, her previous position expired a few months ago, and fencing does not allow her to earn a living. “A few days later I was contacted by a senior executive at L’Oréal who offered me his help.”

1:^eh In July 2011, Maureen signed a permanent contract with the cosmetics group and at the same time continued her career as a high-level athlete. “I did daily training, sometimes twice a day. Depending on the week, I would go to the office in the morning and dedicate my afternoons to fencing or vice versa. My days were very full,” he recalls. His efforts bear fruit. he is again a double bronze medalist at the 2011 and 2012 European Championships.

Compulsory retirement

But in 2012, the disqualification of the French women’s team from the London Olympic Games was a heavy blow for the athlete. “I’m so frustrated I want to stop. At the same time, my partner and I decided to have a child. This is another reason to take a break because as a PCOS sufferer I know it can be challenging physically and psychologically. Hence, we are following the PMA course which is not working,” he regrets, not addressing the topic.

Two years after his resignation, in 2014, Morey wore a mask again. The purpose: Turn around after the Rio Games and end her career in style. “I have to focus on something positive because the failure of this maternity plan is very difficult to live with. Besides, the only gold medal I miss is the Olympics. So I give it 1000%. But the recovery is difficult, I have undergone hormonal treatment, I have gained a lot of weight and I do not feel the support of the team staff. At the end of a full year of competition from March 2015 to April 2016, the French fencing team finally qualified for the Rio Olympics, which will take place from August 5 to 21, 2016. Maureen, for her part, does not, unfortunately. was not selected by his constituents to be part of the group and will never receive an explanation for this selection.

“I have no idea how much it’s going to go down.”

This forced end of his career is far from what the champion dreamed of. At the professional level, however, the transition is natural. “I had a permanent contract at L’Oréal, so I will stay there and start my full-time position for the first time.” At the personal level, however, the situation is more complicated. “The moment I stop, I have no idea how many things are going to collapse around me,” he recalls. “When you are a high-level athlete, we prepare you for many things. Win the Olympic games, world championships. we teach you to be ready for the big day, lose weight if necessary. But no one ever explains to you what will happen to you the day you hang up the phone,” laments the fencer.

However, like many athletes before her, Maureen loses all of her ability. And for good reason, the routine that marked his routine for thirty-five years no longer exists. “Physiologically, energy expenditure is no longer the same, nor is hormone secretion. The result: your mood changes. Your body too. It is very difficult to accept, especially for a woman. When I stopped fencing, I gained 15 kilograms. But I had neither time nor desire to return to sports. I was rejected.” The multi-medal winner also has to face sudden loneliness. “Suddenly people’s views change, the phone no longer rings. “You have no interest in anyone anymore,” he says.

On a sentimental level, the shock is complete. “I got married in August 2016, but I was in such a psychological state that I did not feel joy. I couldn’t bear not being selected for the Rio Games, which ended just days before my wedding. My husband did not understand. He expected to live a life that we hadn’t lived in my entire career,” he admits. And to summarize, in a serious tone. “We got married after ten years of what we thought was a strong relationship, but after two years of marriage we broke up mainly because of my psychological state. At that time, no one cared about the shortcomings of top athletes. In the collective imagination, they were reckless, able to withstand all kinds of pressure. Fortunately, times have changed and mental health is no longer a taboo.”

“I’ve crossed my limits a few times”

Today, eight years after her career ended and after a lot of work on herself, Maureen Nissima has found a balance. The woman from Martinique has rebuilt her life. In 2021, she became the happy mother of a little boy named Madden. If he finally lays down his sword in bitter circumstances, the retiree remains proud of his path. “When you play high-level sport, you regularly flirt with your physical and psychological limitations at the cost of performance. I crossed mine several times. But I have no regrets. When I look back on my path, when I see where I’ve come from, I know I wouldn’t be where I am today if it wasn’t for fencing.

Sport, which is still an integral part of his daily life. “Since 2016, I have been the coach of the French women’s team. So I regularly take time off to watch my team compete,” he smiles. In addition, since 2020, Morin has regularly taken on the role of consultant for Eurosport at every major fencing event. “I would have the opportunity to comment on the opening ceremony of the Paris Olympic Games and all the matches during this period,” he proudly concludes.