From our special correspondent in Massy – In the climbing family, I ask for mother Cécile Allez, daughter Zélia and the two brothers Sam and Léo. A tribe united around the passion for climbing but also the dream of the two youngest of competing in the Paris Olympic Games in 2024. Interview.
For the Avesou, winning a ticket for the Paris Olympics is a family adventure. Zélia and Sam are currently part of the French climbing team aiming for Olympic qualification. Cécile, their mother, is now part of the French management after a busy career at a high level.
The trio was at work last October at the European Olympic Qualifying Tournament (TQO) in Laval. Under an attentive maternal eye, Sam, 22 years old, and Zélia, 19 years old, ranked 3rd and 5th respectively. They have certainly failed for the moment to obtain their ticket to Paris, reserved for the winner of the continental tournament, but the siblings are now re-energized for their last chance to be there: the Olympic qualifying series in Shanghai and Budapest in May and June 2024.
To achieve this, they will then have to rank among the 10 best climbers who have not yet qualified for the Olympics. A challenge which does not scare them and which they have already started to prepare in their cocoon at ES Massy, on the outskirts of Paris, where they have been licensed since their early childhood, alongside their mother.
The children take over
Because at the roots of the Allezou passion for climbing, there is Cécile. She discovered the discipline during an initiation with her college in the 1980s before taking it a little more seriously at university. At a time when the level is less dense than currently, she quickly obtains results.
Surprisingly, she performs well in all the disciplines of climbing: speed, difficulty, bouldering… The high point of her career remains her title of vice-world champion in combined, obtained in 2012 at home in Bercy, even though she is already 40 years old.
© Manfred Werner, Wikimedia Commons / FMM Graphic Studio
The different disciplines of climbing
The block : the climber is faced with several “blocks” to climb in a limited time, in just a few movements. The goal is to “solve” as many blocks as possible – with a maximum height of 4.5 m – without belaying.
The difficulty (or path): it is the most “classic” discipline. The athletes take turns climbing a 15 m wall and the one who reaches the highest hold wins. In the event of a tie, the timer will decide between them.
Speed : it’s the sprint of climbing. Two athletes compete simultaneously on identical 15 m walls. The first person to the top wins and advances to the next round.
Combined : a format set up for the Olympics combining bouldering and difficulty. The athlete must first confront 4 blocks, each worth 25 points, then go as far as possible on a path worth 100 points. On this route, each catch earns more points as you get closer to the top.
At the time, she did not imagine her children taking over. However, they quickly caught the family virus. Zélia, Sam and even Léo, the eldest, all became passionate about climbing.
“I also did gym but I still stopped for climbing,” says Zélia. “When you’re young and you’re stronger in one sport, you gravitate toward that one more than the other.”
“It was also simpler,” smiles Sam. “If your three children are climbing, you bring them to the same place at once and presto! They all climb!”
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“At the beginning, it’s just small local competitions. And if you do well, you find yourself quite quickly in the French championship, because there aren’t a lot of people from 14-15 years old. And you can find yourself in the French team quite quickly. At this stage it’s quite easy to want to do better”, continues the 22-year-old climber.
Versatile like mom
And Sam, just like Zélia, inherited her mother’s versatility. In 2018, he won a historic bronze medal in combined at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires. He also won a silver medal at the European Senior Bouldering Championship in Munich in 2022 and made a podium in the Difficulty World Cup in Chamonix in the summer of 2023. Now, he is chasing an Olympic qualification, even if the competition is tough within the French team with Medji Schlack, Paul Jenft and Mickael Maiwen.
“In the end, there will be one or two who will be there. But we know each other, we will be happy for the others if we don’t go and they will be happy for us if it’s us”, wants to believe Sam Haveou.
© Jan Virt, IFSC / FMM Graphic Studio
Zélia also has winning at her fingertips. Among juniors, she won the gold medal at the junior world championships in Dallas, in March 2022. For her first season among seniors in 2023, she started in the shadows before finishing like a cannonball: a 4th place at the 2023 bouldering world championships in Bern before 5th place in the TQO in Laval. Enough to change her plans, she who was not necessarily aiming for Olympic qualification this year due to her young age.
“Suddenly in Bern, I realized that the Olympics were something I could try to achieve…” says the 19-year-old climber.
© Jan Virt, IFSC / FMM Graphic Studio
An Olympic tournament that she will experience under high pressure. As 5th Frenchwoman in the world rankings, she experienced the event in an ejection seat because the French team can only have four people for future meetings.
The ending is ultimately happy. The Frenchwoman Oriane Bertone turns out to be – by far – the strongest, and obtains a direct ticket for the Games, thus offering a place in qualifying for Zélia Allez. At the time of the results, she falls in the arms of her friend “Ori” with sincere joy for her. And a boost for the future.
“I know what I have to do…” she begins. “The difficulty,” cuts his brother directly with a mocking smile.
“I know that I can gain a lot in difficulty because it is a discipline where you need a lot of experience to progress, both in training and in competition. And I lack that a little,” continues- She. “The difficulty, we saw that it was decisive in combined,” adds his brother.
“If you pass all the blocks, you’re not practicing enough”
To give themselves the means to achieve their Olympic ambitions, the brother and sister have already resumed training: hours of climbing every day to master as many different blocks, routes and movements as possible. In addition to the ES Massy hall, they explore together the ever-growing network of halls in Île-de-France.
Sam Avesou attempts a spectacular move. © Romain Houeix, France 24
“The best are those who will be able to climb a maximum variety of movements,” explains Sam. “We go to all the gyms that open at a level hard enough for us.”
“In the warm-up we do almost everything ‘on sight’ [du premier coup, NLDR] to go there peacefully. But afterward, we’re going to try to go on blocks that are a little too hard for us. We will spend 1 hour, even 2 hours on a block, sometimes without ever getting there,” continues his sister.
“If you succeed in all the blocks, it’s because you’re not practicing enough,” she concludes.
Zélia observes Sam climbing. © Romain Houeix, France 24
Big brother Leo helps them too
The family can also count on another asset: older brother Léo. While he’s not chasing the Olympic dream himself, he’s just as addicted to climbing as the rest. A member of the French bouldering team, he is above all a professional climber, that is to say he designs climbing walls for climbers. A job that he puts at the service of the youngest and youngest daughter. Before the competitions, he sometimes offers them a circuit of four new blocks to get into the conditions for the big day.
“He’s also a good climbing partner for them. They don’t have the same qualities at all. So when they train together, it pushes them to work on something else,” notes their mother.
Indeed, Zélia and Sam are small, rather light. Which gives them an advantage for technical blocks.
“In physical qualities and explosiveness, they are quite similar. But in temperament and personality, it’s something else, you have to learn to deal with it,” explains their mother, looking at them with a tender eye. warming up on the walls of the club. “I am their mother and I am also their trainer. For Zélia, I am the one who coordinates her project with her. Sam has taken on more autonomy.”
Sam and Zélia warm up side by side on a climbing wall at ES Massy. © Romain Houeix, France 24
“Besides, for me, the role of parent and coach is quite similar. It’s about teaching them autonomy so that they can manage on their own afterwards, so that they don’t need to external help to perform well. The common thread is letting them live their passion and I have the impression that it works quite well.”
The Avesou team is well-rounded and is confidently looking forward to May and June where everything will be at stake for the dream of the Olympic Games at home. However, there is no question of putting too much pressure on yourself.
“We’ll think it’s an obsession. That’s all we talk about all the time. It’s true that the Olympics are a lifelong goal. But after this Olympics there are other competitions. so important,” she puts things into perspective. “Winning a world championship is as important as the Olympics,” adds his brother.
