“Sport teaches those who practice it what school never learns: performance programming. “
Muriel Hurtis, world champion in the 4 × 100 meter relay in 2003, is today “SPORT for VALEUR” ambassador at the Communication and CSR Department of Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence. She explains to us how she went from a high-level athlete to a Group employee and how her career as a high-level former athlete allows her today to be even more effective in her new functions.
Q1: Can you trace your career as a high performance athlete?
After 16 years in the French athletics team, I ended my career in 2014 with a European champion title in the 4x400m relay. On my record, there are 2 titles of world champion, 5 titles of European champion, an Olympic and European bronze medal. During my career, I have been fortunate to be accompanied by coaches who have given me a taste for effort and who have led me to always give the best of myself.
Q2: How does one go from professional sprinter to employee of the Crédit Agricole group? What are the values common to these two very distinct worlds? What motivated your choice?
Crédit Agricole Alpes Provence asked me to be the ambassador of the “Sport for Value” label, created in 2015 by the Regional Bank. At the time, I had just obtained my diploma in psychomotor therapy and I was naturally moving in this direction. Following the proposal that was made to me, I was quite simply seduced by the missions of the post whose objective was to promote the educational values of sport in the territory. This is how I joined the Group.
I found there many values that I have encountered during my athletic career such as team spirit, commitment, a taste for efficiency and challenge …
Q3: To get to the top of your discipline, you had to repeat the same gestures, the same methods thousands of times. How do you transcribe it today in your new professional career?
When I was an athlete I looked for perfection in everything I did, I had the ability to adapt to the difficulty, to learn quickly and to reproduce what I was shown or asked to do, today. hui I have the same state of mind in everything I do, I listen and observe to always do the best.
Q4: What is your strength?
What makes me strong is having confidence in myself and being able to manage my emotions when I am in a complicated situation because I assume that every problem has a solution. You might as well have all your faculties to get there and not be overwhelmed by your emotions! The positive attitude, I adopted it and I try to transmit it.
Q5: What advice can you give us to increase performance? What is the little extra that makes you become a champion?
The advice I can give to increase performance is to clearly define your objectives and give them meaning.
The little extra that makes you become a champion is that even in victory a champion always questions himself. He will look for other solutions to be even more efficient and not to remain on his achievements, even if these led to a victory. Because what worked today, may not work tomorrow, is the ability to anticipate and that’s all that makes the difference with a real champion.
›To find out more about Muriel Hurtis, see her podcast“ Sportraits ”: https://youtu.be/nvGU2DTC4gg
Conversely, Christophe Lavigne, an employee of the Crédit Agricole group for 24 years, has recently become a high-level athlete. Passionate about rowing, which he practices in the “Handi” section at the Boulogne-Billancourt club since 2014, he was to participate in the Tokyo Olympics in 2020, unfortunately postponed due to the health crisis.
He explains to us what drove him to this level of performance and how the Crédit Agricole Group encourages him in his career.
Q1: Can you tell us about your journey?
I joined the Crédit Agricole group in 1996, two years after having had a serious accident which cost me both legs.
An occasional athlete, I was looking for a discipline that could make me work on cardio. In 2013, I discovered quite by chance, during a TV report, that rowing could be practiced in disabled sports. From that moment, I took the necessary steps to join the Boulogne club (92). I quickly became passionate about this discipline, to the point that I reached a level that I never imagined.
At the beginning I trained about 2h30 per week. But that was not enough for me, so I multiplied the sessions. Today I train between 3 and 4 hours a day, weekends included.
Q2: How did you become a top athlete in such a short time, to the point of preparing for the Olympics this year? What pushed you to such a level, what drives you?
High-level sport was clearly not scheduled. After my accident in 1994, my priority was not to play sports but to find a family and professional balance. I started rowing at 42 years old, and it all happened very quickly, the results being encouraging.
I have always liked to take up challenges and surpass myself. This is what drives me and pushes me today to try my luck at the next Paralympic Games.
Q3: What do your job and your sporting discipline have in common? How does the company support you in this challenge?
I joined Crédit Agricole Payment Services in 2015, as Sourcing Coordinator. Today, I am an IT buyer in the Finance Department. I try to build my sports project like a computer project. I do everything I can to ensure that the result on the date set is the best possible.
Achieving results, whether athletic or professional requires the same investment: rigor and courage. In sport as at work, I seek satisfaction that comes from efficiency and pleasure.
And I am incredibly lucky to have the support of my employer. At CAPS, everyone immediately adhered to my sports project, whether at the level of HR or General Management. My schedule is adapted according to my training.
Q4: How do you see the rest?
My participation in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics was unfortunately compromised due to the health crisis. I therefore continue to train for the next stage, the French championships in March 2021. They will be followed by some international competitions next spring and finally the preparation of the final stage: the rowing event of the Paralympic Games of August 29, 2021.
›To find out more about Christophe Lavigne, see his podcast“ Sportraits ”: https://ca-sportecoledevie.fr/podcast/christophe-lavigne/
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Sport as a school of life
– The Crédit Agricole Group attaches particular importance to sport and actively supports those who bring it to life, everywhere in France.
– For 3 years, the Group has made sport a real issue, which is part of its social commitment.
– By promoting sport and its values, the Group is convinced that it can act in the interests of people and of society. All of its commitments are supported by a unifying identity: “sport as a school of life”, of which Teddy Riner is the ambassador.
›To find out more, visit:
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