This track number 19 was to be that of a rebirth. A new start in this quest for gold in an Olympic Games at home. But just a few minutes after his return with foil in hand, five months after his last competition, this end of the St. Jakob Hall in Basel is nothing but tears, cries of pain and distressed expressions. It’s barely 9 a.m. at the start of the morning when the foilists attack their qualifying group for the main draw of these European Championships. Ysaora Thibus screams, lying on the ground. In tears.
The removed mask reveals his face distorted by suffering and his trembling lip. “After all that…” she blurted out when the medical staff looked at her. ” That ” ? His fight after a positive doping test in January. Three months provisional suspension. And finally the delivery in mid-May after being cleared. A delightful return to business in Switzerland.
“We have to stop her, she will tear everything off otherwise”
And the left knee gave out, nine seconds after the start of her second match of the day against the Greek Maria Stamos. An attack, a brief body-to-body struggle. The body of the 2022 world champion sags, her left knee strapped after an alert during the first confrontation.
Behind the barrier delimiting the track, his fencing master Giulio Tomassini and the manager of the women’s foil Yann Detienne are defeated. Aware, deep down, that the sad spectacle before their eyes resembles a buried dream. Thibus gets up, competes for two more touches. The leg is still failing.
“We have to stop her, otherwise she will tear everything away,” says the French clan. She complies and leaves the room, crying. Half an hour later, tears were still streaming down the cheeks of the fencer, who then headed to the Hôtel des Bleus to wait to take her exams.
“We have no certainty”
The shadow of a package for the Olympics of one of the French headliners of this sport weighed down the day of the French delegation in Basel. A possibility rejected, for the moment, by the national technical director.
Verdict of the MRI taken at 5 p.m.: an injury to a ligament, which was not specified, in the left knee. But no breakup. “We are not in complete disaster, but we have no certainty,” slips the DTN. Reassuring? “The highest risk would be that the ligaments are affected a little,” feared, before the examination, the manager of the women’s foil, Yann Detienne.
Ysaora Thibus, now wearing a knee brace and a pair of crutches, will obviously not compete in the team event on Sunday and must now return to France. His case will again be examined in depth by Insep doctors and possibly external specialists. With the ambition to establish a more precise diagnosis in the coming days and to determine whether or not Ysaora Thibus can still hope to participate in the Olympic Games, with an entry into the running on Sunday July 28.
A group marked by its injury and the concussion of Anita Blaze
“The deadline is very short,” recognizes Jean-Yves Robin. Especially since the selection must be communicated no later than July 5, even if a replacement in the event of a package remains possible after this date. Does she pay for her absence from practice during her provisional suspension? “We can’t help but make the connection, but I think it’s just really bad luck,” whispers his manager Yann Detienne.
His group is deeply marked. “She fought, she comes back, and there…” whispers the promising Eva Lacheray. “Seeing a friend on the ground is weird,” adds one of the historical figures, Pauline Ranvier, whose voice betrays a double emotion. Because in addition to Thibus, the Blues saw another team silver executive at the Tokyo Games, Anita Blaze, leave on a wheelchair following her defeat against the Austrian Olivia Wohlgemuth. A match where she was hit twice in the head.
The Guadeloupean must now follow a concussion protocol, after having already suffered this injury during the world championships last year. The concern is less concerning her, even if everything will depend on the evolution of her case, but she will not compete in the team event either. “I don’t want to talk about a curse, but it’s a lot,” regrets Pauline Ranvier. One of the French women still standing after this black Wednesday.
