The only French climber who was already in Tokyo to have qualified for Paris, Bassa Mawem will end his career at 39 years old with the speed climbing competition at the 2024 Olympics. A deadline that he approaches without pressure but with a heavy heart due to the absence of his brother, Mickael Mawem, who did not qualify.
Published on: 06/08/2024 – 01:09Modified on: 06/08/2024 – 01:15
6 mn
“Honestly, I’m not taking it very well. I’m less keen to go to the Games.” At 39, Bassa Mawem is not mincing his words. For the New Caledonian climber, the 2024 Olympics have lost a bit of their appeal since he learned that his little brother, Mickael, would not be taking part, the latter having failed to qualify for the combined climbing event.
With a heavy heart, the veteran of the French team will still be keen to do well: “It’s a privilege to be able to experience the first two Games in the history of climbing,” he enthuses. “This will be my last competition. Experiencing the Olympics at home is the dream of a lifetime. For my family, for all the people who follow me, for the federation, I have to do my best to try to win a medal.”
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The beautiful story of Tokyo will therefore not repeat itself. At the previous Olympiad, the Mawem brothers were the two French male representatives. Mickaël had validated his qualification for the world championships in the summer of 2019 while Bassa had confirmed his three months later at the Olympic Qualification Tournament.
The Mawem brothers together in Tokyo
At the time, Covid-19 led to the postponement of the Tokyo Games but was far from slowing down Bassa’s preparation: “I quickly got permission to train. It was even the easiest period because I had the facilities to myself, I had no constraints and no work,” he smiles.
With Mickaël, “we lived together, we trained together. Since we were in the same discipline, it was great because we could do it together. When we got to the Games, we said to ourselves that we were going to go to the final together and try to win a medal.”
In Tokyo, the Mawem brothers shine in the semi-final and secure their ticket to the final. However, the beautiful story takes a turn for the worse. Bassa is injured at the end of the event, suffering a rupture of the lower biceps tendon.
“We had to make a decision: either continue or stop. And for my brother, to give him the strength he needed to continue, I quickly made the decision to continue. My brother didn’t get the medal but Mickaël gave it his all and even came close to winning the gold medal,” his brother smiles.
The veteran of the French team
After these Games, Bassa began a long ordeal. He had to have an operation on his arm and was then kept away from the climbing walls for many months. And when he resumed, everything had to be redone:
“It took me a year to get back to my level and then I had to climb up the ranks to get back to an international level,” the climber sighs.
And his return to the forefront was confirmed at the Speed Climbing Qualification Tournament in Rome in September 2023. There, he dominated the best Europeans to secure his ticket, unlike his brother who failed to do the same in the continental combined qualifications in Laval, then during the Olympic qualification series in Shanghai.
At 1.83 m and 80 kg, Bassa Mawem is a speed specialist, the “100 m of climbing”. While in Tokyo, this speed test was part of the combined, it will result in a separate medal in Paris. Even if Bassa holds the Olympic record in 5 seconds 45 but expects to see it largely beaten in 2024:
“I have always been strong but I have never been the strongest. It is my consistency that has led to all the good results I have achieved in the past. This year, the world record has gone up to 4 seconds 79. In training, there are athletes who manage to do 4 seconds 60”, he analyses, without beating around the bush, his personal record being 5 seconds 27. “I will try to do my best and we will see the result at the end.”
Transmitting climbing
In Paris, Bassa Mawem will be the oldest climber to compete at the age of 39. In the French team, the age gap is also significant since the oldest after him is Sam Avezou at… 23 years old. But in this relaxed environment that is “climbing”, the age difference is far from being a divide between enthusiasts. The staff of the French team encouraged him to share his Olympic experience with six teammates who will discover the Olympic deep end:
Also read: Zélia, Sam and Cécile Avezou: climbing and the Paris-2024 goal as a family
“I offered some tips on how to manage the pressure, the media, all the extras of the Olympics. Afterwards, everyone will live their experience differently and be accompanied differently. My advice would be simple, however: do as you feel,” he explains, relaxed.
At the end of their career, the two brothers have already started to prepare for the future. Together, they opened a climbing gym in Colmar, Alsace, not far from where they started the discipline.
“We left Alsace because there were not enough human and material resources to consider a high-level career. We came back to bring all the skills, everything we learned,” he explains. “Our project is to allow young people to experience everything we experienced. We hope that one day our athletes will do Los Angeles 2028 or Brisbane 2032.”
