Quentin Rakotomalala, a Frenchman among the pioneers of men’s artistic swimming

From the height of his 65 meter, Quentin Rakotomalala opens his eyes wide. “It’s incredible, I don’t realize it yet. » At 19, the student in BTS communication does not only measure with his bronze medal won this Sunday in Rome in the free event, he forever marked the history of his sport. For the first time, the men’s solos were indeed on the program of the European Championships. “Besides, I’m next to a swimmer I admire on the podium. Giorgio Minisini is an idolexclaims the French about the 26-year-old Italian, who has just added gold in this exercise, after being crowned in technique. He deserves, he is super strong. His way of swimming is incredible. »

Like his elder, Quentin Rakotomalala relies on his ability to convey emotions, since he does not yet have his technical quality. For the occasion, he had chosen to take a piece of Benjamin Clementine on which he had already swum when he was younger, but where he was able, this time, to express his progress, his artistic maturity, the elegance of his arm work. .

Men’s artistic swimming is still in its infancy

“It went really well, I had a blast. I took full advantage of the momentpromises the native of Marseille, whose name betrays the Malagasy origins. Julie was super proud of me. » If he has been training for four years in Aix-en-Provence, with Myriam Lignot, the young man has benefited for a month from the advice of Julie Fabre, the director of the France team. Even if this medal was promised to her against the Serb Martinovic (there were four engaged in this inaugural final), the technician wanted to polish the details, to offer the most beautiful product possible.

Some might laugh at the low number of participants. But men’s artistic swimming is still in its infancy. At the 2015 Worlds, mixed pairs made their official appearance. At the time, Virginie Dedieu had come out of retirement to accompany one of the pioneers in France, Benoît Beaufils. Together, they had stumbled on the podium (4th in free). The triple world champion (2003, 2005, 2007) is therefore the first to applaud this new step climbed. “I want to say: finally! There’s no reason it shouldn’t exist. We always say blue for boys, pink for girls, or dance for girls and judo for boys. Well no, we can do everything in fact! »

Quentin Rakotomalala can only appreciate this support from such an icon, who was dismissed from the same club as him. He started artistic swimming because his sister was doing it, that by dint of seeing him at each training session, at all the galas, a trainer offered him a try one day. “I was swimming race at the base. After the first practice, she told me that I could continue if I wanted. And how I loved it…”

However, it has not always been easy. Not because of the lack of competitive perspective, but because of the gaze of others. “Today, things are better, but when I was little, I admit that I saw incomprehension in people’s eyes. I was uncomfortable, I was even ashamed sometimes to say that I was doing synchronized swimming. I said I was just swimming, because I was hanging out with kids who didn’t understand that a boy could practice a sport ”feminine”. Now, I fully assume “says the Frenchman who dreams that his example will allow other little boys to move towards this sport where the power and masculine energy even inspire young women who seek to evolve in their technical difficulties.

“It was very important to be here, that the judges finally see men competing in this event. It was a historic moment and I can’t wait to see how far our sport can go now. To be one of the first guys to take part in this event was magical “, reacted the Italian Minisini, decidedly one of the pioneers with the American Bill May, who had won the first world title of mixed pairs in 2015. Two strong sources of inspiration for Quentin Rakotomalala, who does not count s stop there and dream that men will now make their entry into the Olympic programme. “Maybe at the 2028 Games”he asks.