Olympics-2020: the Le Goff house “in levitation” in Sanary for Nicolas’ Olympic gold

Nadine, the mother, has a lot “cry“, Saturday night. “I knelt in front of the TV, I think I could have walked around the neighborhood with my flag.“

At kick-off, she had observed his unchanging ritual: the son’s jersey on his back, flag in hand and loudspeaker at full blast.

This time, friends came to support her, while Florent, the little brother, came home from work in time to enjoy the glass of champagne. “I prefer to watch the games at home, because I know I can scream without disturbing the neighborhood.“

A mother “in shock”

Since the Olympic title, the former amateur volleyball player is “in a state of shock“. “I haven’t landed yet, I don’t touch the ground anymore, she blurted out. I am in a permanent levitation, torn between happiness and pride.“

Before returning home, “in the same plane as the handball players“, Nicolas LeGoff (29), spent in his youth by Toulon-Six-Fours volleyball (ex-TPM VB), called him from Tokyo.”I told him: your name is engraved in history“, says Nadine, to the angels.

And what a story, that of an extraordinary rebirth and an extraordinary destiny. “Nicolas lost his father (Thierry Le Goff, a child from Sanary) who died violently of a heart attack. He was only 14 years old. Volleyball saved him.“

This gold medal, “le Grail“as this mother hen of 1.81m repeats, is an immense reward.

She still remembers the distress of her son, inconsolable after the failure of Rio. “When we know the deprivations, the sacrifices that a high-level career represents, she emphasizes. I haven’t seen my son for fifteen years. No more Christmas, no more New Years, no more things like that…“

“a family of heart”

When he leaves the family home for the national center of Toulouse, the teenager is already 1.90 m tall. And then everything is linked in the space of a few months. The national selections in particular, where he meets Earvin Ngapeth and a sacred band of friends. “There he found a family, a masculine environment that he no longer had at home. This gang is his brothers, his loving family. “

Today, the Montpellier central is a part of the France team, with a record as long as the arm, and the colossus of 2.02 m no longer counts the matches. Having remained thousands of kilometers away, Nadine does not know when she will be able to hug him, savor.

“The preparation for the European Championship begins on August 15 (next Sunday), as much to say tomorrow what, pleads the mother. But they (the players) asked for a vacation extension, Nicolas confessed to me that he was cooked, that every square inch of his body was painful …“

Out of sight near the heart. As always, the loving mother will be “present” by his side, “but in another way“While Sanary’s heart will continue to beat in the summer.

“I would have liked to be physically present in Tokyo, I had planned everything before the pandemic and the postponement of the Games. But I have already reserved my room with a friend for Paris 2024. Now, there’s more than for Nico.”

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