This is a dream that is fading away. While the qualification for the 2024 Paris Olympics under the colors of Senegal seemed within reach for 36-year-old Norman weightlifter Clarisse Gomis, originally from Saint-Lô (Manche), she saw her chances collapse due to a point of regulation and an administrative issue. Explanations.
“Take part in at least two qualifying competitions”
Just a few days ago, Clarisse Gomis was smiling at the thought of her summer 2024. “I’m just waiting for my plane ticket to the World Championships in Phuket, Thailand, from Monday 1st to Saturday, April 13, 2024, and once there, I just have to validate lifts to secure my ticket for the Games,” she explained in our columns. “I have to meet the country’s minimum requirements and I’m already the best in Senegal just by participating, because I’m the only one.” A just reward for her consistency at the highest national level, in the top-9 women’s team of Stade Saint-Lois.
Unfortunately, a point of regulation came to dampen her hopes. “The regulation stipulates that to be eligible for Paris 2024, you had to take part in at least two qualifying competitions for these Games…” Bitterness is present, as Clarisse Gomis had marked another qualifying tournament on her schedule, at the beginning of 2024: the African Championships in Egypt, on Tuesday, February 6, 2024. “But in order to participate, I had to have attended an anti-doping training two months earlier, like all athletes,” recounts the Franco-Senegalese. “I was registered, but they sent me an email to say that I was not ultimately on the list… This administrative mishap is costing me dearly.”
“I tell myself that I always have Los Angeles 2028 in sight”
Resigned, the Saint-Loise canceled her participation in the Thai tournament. “There is no Plan B. It’s a shame that a purely administrative issue is preventing me from going to Paris. Perhaps, in a way, I simply wasn’t meant to compete in the 2024 Olympics…,” she philosophizes. Before looking beyond next summer. “I tell myself that I always have Los Angeles 2028 in sight to console myself, she continues. Even if competing in Paris would have been great… I continue to train and I have many other competitions coming up, like the French, European, and World Championships. These are beautiful experiences to live.”
#Cette #mésaventure #administrative #coûte #cher
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