“A huge celebration for everyone”
After winning two medals at the Olympic Games Tokyo 2020, Romane Dicko has had her sights firmly set on Paris 2024 – seven days a week.
Romane Dicko was 17 when Paris was chosen to host the 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. She will soon be 25. The age when an Olympic gold medal is no longer just a dream. The French judoka, who won a bronze medal in the +78kg category at Tokyo 2020 – plus a gold in the mixed team event – makes no secret of her ambitions. Victory. Nothing less will do. Born in the Ile-de-France region and a member of the Paris Saint-Germain Judo Club, Dicko is eagerly looking forward to Paris 2024. She is expecting the Games to be the high point of her career, but also a huge celebration. And a leap forward for sport in French society.
Do you remember your reaction when Paris was chosen to host the Games, in September 2017 at the IOC Session in Lima?
I was 17 and still a junior, but already training at INSEP (the National Institute for Sport, Expertise and Performance). I remember the announcement very well. We were all watching the television in the cafeteria, following the ceremony live. I hadn’t yet won anything at senior level, so Paris 2024 was like a dream for me. But at the same time not such a distant one.
Since then, what role has Paris 2024 played in your journey as an athlete, your thoughts and your everyday life?
To start with, I didn’t think about them at all. But when I began getting results at senior level, I realised that this dream was becoming achievable. So Paris 2024 occupied an increasingly big place in my life. After Tokyo 2020, I told myself that the Olympic title was within my grasp. Since then it’s been inside my head, and I can’t stop thinking about it. It takes my energy seven days a week. I won the [individual] bronze in Tokyo, and now I want the gold.
Competing at more than one edition of the Games is already a huge privilege, but doing so in your own country is an incredible opportunity.
Have you been directly or indirectly involved in the preparations for the Games?
No, and it’s much better that way. I don’t think it’s the job of active athletes to get involved in the Games preparations. We’ve got a National Olympic Committee that’s done a great job. We’ve been able to keep out of it and focus on what’s essential for us.
Is it very different preparing for the Olympic Games in your own country?
In sporting terms, no. The Games are still the Games, the top competition. But as a French athlete, you have to be mentally ready, as the excitement will be immense. No athlete is ever really prepared for such an experience. That’s why I’ve been focusing part of my preparation on this aspect of the competition since Tokyo 2020. I’ve worked on it specifically with my mental performance coach several times a month. I want to be as strong as possible inside my head.
Other than your own performance, what are you expecting from these Games?
A huge celebration for everyone. We were deprived of that in Tokyo because of the health situation, so I want to share the experience with other athletes, the public and the media. Happy Games; Games that do some good. An event where all the values of sport and Olympism will be combined.
Can Paris 2024 change the place of sport in society?
I hope so. And I have the impression that this is already happening. Sport has a higher profile in schools and is more often linked with health and well-being. Even before it starts, Paris 2024 has brought sport into French people’s daily lives. In judo, we have a bigger number of licence-holders (more than 500,000), but the impact may be even greater. After Tokyo 2020, we saw many people joining clubs. If we win a lot of medals in Paris, the effect will be even bigger. And that’ll be brilliant, as judo teaches a lot of educational values. I’d so much like to see thousands of children getting into judo and growing up with the sport.
Published in the Olympic Review 122