A CREATIVE FORCE

What is your background and how did you get into figure skating?

I come from Avignon in the south of France, where skating is not popular. I went to the rink to see my cousin who took skating lessons and I wanted to try it right away. I loved it. I was able to skate naturally and my cousin was not happy because she had been doing it for some months and I was able to glide from the first class.

I did singles skating from 6 to 9 years old. I had all the double jumps and I had started working on triples. But, at school, I heard lots of comments like ‘skating is a sport for girls.’ So I stopped skating and started playing rugby. But later, I realized I missed skating and I started again when I was 11. It was tragic because I couldn’t jump anymore. My body had changed and I had a lot of trouble regaining my jumps.

Then I saw Marina Anissina and Gwendal Peizerat on television winning the 2002 Olympic title and that was a revelation for me. I told my mother I wanted to do this. She talked to my coaches and I told them I wanted to train with the same coaches as Marina and Gwendal. My coaches said, ‘you are crazy. They will never take you.’ My mother called Muriel Zazoui and we got a reply to come for a test.

So, in May 2002 my mother and I went to Lyon and I skated for one hour with Muriel and three hours with Romain Haguenauer. At the end of the day, they told my mother they were not taking children, but they would make an exception for me. I was 13 years old at the time. I did solo dance until they found a partner for me.

What did you achieve in your competitive career?

After finishing first or second at novice nationals, I moved up to juniors and was the French junior ice dance champion (with partner Élodie Brouiller). I remember in our first Junior Grand Prix season (2005-2006) we finished fifth in Estonia and fourth in Japan. That was quite exceptional. The following season, we finished seventh at the Junior Grand Prix Final and also at 2007 Junior Worlds.

However, it was very difficult for anyone to skate with me. I did not have the team spirit. That was the reason why my first partner quit. I found another partner, (Canadian) Terra Findlay, and it went quite well, but after moving up to the senior level in 2009, I stopped and left ice dance the same sudden way I had entered it. I went