Pierre Houin will not go to the Tokyo Olympics (July 23-August 8) to defend his 2016 title in rowing. He was not selected to participate in the last qualifying regatta on May 15. A disappointment and at the same time a relief.
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Pierre Houin lost all his chances of defending his Olympic title in Tokyo (23 July-8 August). “It was time for it to end, too much stress. It was doing me more harm than good.”, he explains after his training, Thursday, May 6, 2021 in Nancy (Meurthe-et-Moselle).
We focused this project around me, and the project will be done without me. But it is not a lack of desire.
In the final of the first round of the World Cup in Zagreb (Saturday May 1), Pierre Houin and his new teammate Ferdinand Ludwig, were beaten by the other boat, made up of Hugo Beurey and the European junior champion. skiff, Victor Marcelot. “We focused this project around me, and the project will be done without me. But it is not a lack of desire. It is rather a resignation, a dejection which characterized these last weeks”.
Five years ago, with Jerémie Azou, the rower from Lorraine won the gold medal in the lightweight two-pair at the Rio Olympics. And since then, he always had the same goal: to repeat his feat in 2021, in Japan, in Tokyo. “He did not have all the weapons in hand to defend his title. We are always disappointed not to be able to defend his chances, but we should not see bitterness. He had already mourned a bit. of the Olympic Games “, adds Maxime Guilhem, Pierre Houin’s trainer.
The Tokyo Olympics were in the sights
For four years, the staff around Pierre Houin will have tried everything to find a replacement for Jerémie Azou and set up a new team with the possibility of winning a new medal. But that obviously didn’t work.
“I couldn’t find someone and someone couldn’t find me”, said Pierre Houin.
“Pierre feels relieved, because it is not a simple decision. There was a lot of stress in recent weeks”, explains Maxime Guilhem.
Maxime Guilhem is Pierre Houin’s trainer. “Pierre had already mourned the Olympic Games a little.”
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© Yves Quéméner, France televisions
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After his Olympic title at Rio 2016, Pierre Houin had four years, half fig and half grape, with too many uncertainties.
“Yes, that’s for sure, but today I won and that’s all I will remember. I won everything and now I need to find myself, to take stock”.
Pierre Houin at the Nancy aquatic center. “It is rather a form of resignation, a dejection which characterizes these last weeks”.
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© Yves Quéméner, France televisions
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However, all is not finished. Pierre Houin, will be fielded solo, in a light weight single scull, during the World Cup in Lucerne (Switzerland), from May 21 to 23. Nancy’s Hugo Beurey will be in Tokyo next summer.
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