For several years, the French horse archery team has shone at international events. This summer, she won her third European title, after a world champion title in Mongolia last year. With Alan Le Gall, national coach, we returned to the development of the discipline, in France and internationally.
The queen discipline in the steppes of Central Asia, archery on horseback continues to seduce. Today it is practiced in more than sixty countries, horseback archery continues to seduce. Particularly in France, where our riders excel on the international scene. To pull the strings of this French horse archery team, a shock duo. It is made up of Jaouad Boustani, national technical advisor, and Alan Le Gall, national coach. He himself runs a stable where discipline is king, the Domaine de Gauchoux. Every year it hosts an essential international event on the calendar.
“The French team is somewhat in pole position at world level”
Horse magazine: You were at the World Nomad Games in Kazakhstan in mid-September. How many riders did you take and how did it go?
Alan Le Gall: We were invited to Kazakhstan to participate in this fifth edition of the World Nomad Games. These are a bit like the Olympic Games of nomadic sports. These are the disciplines traditionally practiced by all the peoples of the steppes of Central Asia. There is archery on horseback, the ancestor of horseball which is called kokpar or kok-boru, the tests of the strongest nomad, there is wrestling, and a whole bunch of traditional sports. But also more intellectual sports like traditional strategy games. There were twenty-one disciplines and they welcomed around 2,500 athletes.
We had been invited for horseback archery in particular because the French team is somewhat in pole position at world level. For them, it was interesting to confront us. Jaouad Boustani, national technical advisor, and I had chosen to represent France, William Delangue Chevalier, Raphaël Malet, Martin Opoix and Gaëtan Blot. Martin was in the French team a few years ago and had enough experience. Raphaël is currently world number one among Seniors, Gaëtan world number three and William number eight.
“Welcomed like superstars”
CM : What were the objectives on site?
ALG : We went there mainly to gain experience because they were a little different events from what we were used to playing. And then, it was done on a system of drawing lots for mounts, it was something that we hadn’t practiced too much yet. In addition, the idea for me as coach was to start preparing the selections for the world championships in September 2025. We are already thinking and in the meantime, we are trying to give them as much experience as possible. and to continue working as a collective. These objectives were achieved.
There were four events, including one where we are a bit specialist today, which is the Hungarian standard event. The first day, we won a gold medal and a bronze medal. Afterwards, what was incredible was really the welcome aspect on site. We were welcomed like superstars. For the young people, it was really a big experience to realize that our sport, which is not a very popular sport in France, is there. There were posters in the streets of horse archery, the whole city was in the colors of the World Nomad Games. It was quite incredible, they were able to experience what popularity is. I was doing multiple interviews a day, people were stopping to ask for selfies. There was an interesting notoriety side to encounter for the collective.
Find the rest of our interview with Alan Le Gall in issue 634 of Cheval magazinee. It is available on newsstands or on our online store.
