The former international basketball player, SLUC icon and Olympic medalist, is pursuing a career in which sport retains its place. Since 2014, he has been leading a structure dedicated to people who are overweight or who suffer from chronic illnesses. At the same time, he embarked on an extreme discipline: Ironman.
If you sometimes trot on the banks of Meurthe or further on the greenways, you may have come across its tall silhouette. He has surely overtaken you, with his energetic stride. Cyril Julian often runs, as if he had never wanted to lower the tempo of his years of professional sport. For six years, he has set his sights on the triathlon first, then on its extreme version, the Ironman. “A priori, I don’t have the physique suited to this kind of discipline,” smiles Cyril Julian. One day, someone said to me ironically: “You basketball players, you can’t swim or ride a bike!” I took it at face value, a little pissed off, and challenged myself. “A Gérardmer triathlon later, he is a fan of this discipline, already finds that the distances are too short and sees bigger, with the Ironman. A thrilling event: 3.8 km swimming, 180.2 km cycling and a “small” marathon (42.195 km) running to finish. Few athletes succeed, he has made it his specialty.
“My little moments of paradise”
His professional career – at the top – could not allow him to consider less. Cyril Julian made the floors of the French basketball team and that of Nancy shine. A rough and catchy pivot, he led the Blues to the Olympic silver medal in Sydney in 2000: “It’s this moment, this adrenaline rush like a sensation of floating, felt just after an Olympic match that I try to find at the end of each Ironman event. I call them my little moments of paradise. Twelve to thirteen hours of effort for a few seconds of this magical feeling, that’s so good. I’m also writing a book that talks about these suspended moments, pure adrenaline. For ten years, he was also to enjoy the heyday of SLUC, notably with a Korac Cup on the list, a European title won in 2000. He could have had a quiet end to his career in the governing bodies of the club, but his path forks a completely different path.
And there, you have to listen a little and listen to the rest of Cyril Julian’s singing accent. This accent from the Tarn, his department of origin where his grandfather was a farmer and owned a few vines. It was to keep a family promise that he launched himself into the world of wine. In 2009, once the door of the gymnasium was definitively closed, he opened a wine bar in Nancy. He gives him a name that recalls his first career, the MVP, “Most Valuable Player” in the jargon, the best player of a meeting. A serious approach – he is a graduate of the Institute of Vine and Wine in Dijon – but which leaves him with a somewhat harsh memory: “It was not very well perceived at the time, regrets Cyril Julian. Maybe some have associated it with the promotion of alcohol by a former sportsman, where I was only talking about discovering the terroir… ”
Adapted sport and mental coaching
After the balls, he drops the bottles to specialize in coaching. With his former physical trainer in Switzerland, Cyril decides to carry out an astonishing experiment: for a week, he wears an outfit – a specialized carcass – which puts him in the shoes of a 200 kg person. “Following this experience, I decided to orient myself on the care of these people who suffer in their daily lives, by offering them to do physical exercise very targeted to their needs and to make them more independent. He opened his first complex in Nancy in 2014, then a second branch in Mont-Saint-Martin then Épinal. Special feature of these centers: they receive patients on medical prescription with very strict medical and dietary monitoring. “The objective is not performance, but really to try to improve their daily life, specifies Cyril Julian. In recent years, I have expanded the range of people welcomed to patients suffering from chronic illnesses, cancers, or even polytraumatized patients, with more personalized courses. “During the health crisis, he took advantage of a little free time to train in the field of mental preparation, in morphopsychology precisely. “I speak to people who want to prepare for an exam or to others who suffer from problems in the course of their work, who do not know how to say no. I also had caregivers who asked themselves a lot of questions. »
Calmed down but still a warrior
Turned towards others, the one we nicknamed on the floors “the Warrior” still keeps this energy of the competitor that he was. Father of five children, he now cultivates a balance between his professional life and his passion for sport. “But I’m never playing basketball again,” he says. Except possibly for a gala match for the benefit of an association. But I continue the sport in high doses, because I believe that I have an image to assume in connection with my career. I always have trouble with these high-level athletes who let themselves go physically and who no longer fit into the jersey after their hour of glory. »
If he practices Ironman today, it is more for a personal challenge than for statistics or the clock. Having passed the impression of being a UFO on the starting line with his measurements, his double meter and five centimeters, he suffers as much as the other competitors and, like them, derives the satisfaction of having accomplished the impossible. And when, as in Venice in 2021, he crosses the finish line alongside his son Matys, the experience is worth all the medals in the world…
His music: metal
“I like the punchy side of the music. Before entering the water for an Ironman, I put a good Iron Maiden “Fear of the Dark” in my ears. It starts very cool and it goes up. On the other hand, I can listen to “Hall of Fame” by The Scripts: there, it’s the lyrics that are catchy and have meaning. It’s galvanizing. »
Son film : Harry Potter
“I’m very much into American blockbusters but besides that, I’m going to have a blast in front of the ‘7th company’ and all the De Funès. I loved all “Harry Potter” – even if I’m told it’s not my age! – and “Fantastic Beasts” – although I liked the last one less without Johnny Depp. The magical side, the special effects, the atmosphere, that speaks to me. I’m an adult with childish eyes and I don’t really want to grow up. »
Son rest : La Lorette
“It’s a small brewery in a small village, in Champenoux, where I’ve been living for a few months. The boss, John, cooks crazy, cheap and with good products. »
His wine: a Châteauneuf-du-Pape
“I like a bit of everything, but with a weakness for the Rhône Valley, with Côtes-Rôties or Châteauneuf-du-Pape. For a great occasion, I would open a Château Rayas or an Vieux Télégraphe. »
The sportsman who inspires him: Jan Frodeno
“In basketball, it’s quite classic, I was a fan of Michael Jordan. I also followed Dino Radja for a long time, a Croatian player who had a great career in Europe, in the NBA and at the Olympic Games in Seoul and Barcelona. Today I am amazed by a German triathlete, Jan Frodeno. It feels like it does everything effortlessly. He won the Ironman world title several times, was a gold medalist at the Beijing Games… I never had the opportunity to race at the same level as him. This will take place in Hamburg next September. A priori, he will line up at the start, for his last stand and I will be there too! »
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