Marie-Julie Bonnin, world indoor pole vault champion: "I don't want to be put under pressure"

"We left you in Nanking, the first French pole vaulter to win a gold medal in a World Championship, at the end of March. How did things go for you? After Nanking , I made the decision to move. It was the right time to do it, I couldn't see myself stopping in the middle of the season. I was living with my mother, I took an apartment on my own, ten minutes from the Stéhélin stadium. Then, I got really sick, really space food poisoning. I hadn't been able to do Stade 2. We took a few weeks to deal with all that, and we left a little late for prep. But we said to ourselves: we have the training camp in Martinique. Except that in Martinique, I hurt my quadriceps a little, a grade 1, a small tear. Just enough of a pain to stop you from jumping, but it doesn't hang around. It's healed.

Is that why you didn't jump into the Interclub Championships on May 18th as planned? It was to preserve the quad and make sure everything was going well. I'm missing pole vault sessions; to be honest, I've done four since the restart. But I feel that physically, I'm up to it, I'm strong, I feel good. My head's racing, and even in terms of speed, before I hurt myself 2-3 weeks ago, I was already in top form. I tell myself that's still a good sign. And above all, I'm ready to start the season properly, full of ambition.

What impact did this poisoning have on your health? Did you lose a lot of weight? It lasted five days, four of which were "hardcore." It was just enough time for me to take the medication and for it to calm down. But I've never experienced that. And all of it because of greed! It was a little cake that was surely contaminated. Weight-wise, I melted away all at once, I had nothing left, I was a shrimp. I didn't want to look at how much I'd lost. We took the time to build my muscles back up healthily, we did everything in order.

"I still feel like it's not really ingrained in me. If someone introduces me and says, 'She's the world champion...' It feels really, really weird."

And the injury, under what circumstances did it happen? The first week of the camp was light, the goal wasn't to jump, it was to build speed, gain a bit of body. My knee was a bit unstable because I had taken a tumble on the pole vault mat. And during a sprint session, I felt my quad, it hit me straight away. We thought it was a contracture because it went away quickly. I was well taken care of by the physiotherapist, but in the end, it was still a grade 1.

All of this makes for a frustrating preparation for you. You're missing out on jumps, but mentally, how did you handle the aftermath of this world title? Were you able to digest it a little? It's still a little weird. I still have the impression that it's not really anchored in me. If someone introduces me and says: she's the world champion... It feels really weird. I don't shout it out loud. I still need to take time to process, but deep down, I feel like it's as if it's activated a little extra strength. You tell yourself that maybe it's this extra effort that will lead me to win a medal in Tokyo this summer. I feel that internally, it's a strength, but in people's eyes, I still have trouble accepting it. It's also perhaps an extra responsibility, and I don't want to take it on. I want to keep having fun, doing what I love, and enjoying myself on the jumps. I don't want anyone to put pressure on me.

In this context, how are you approaching this season, with the World Championships at the end of September in Tokyo? Rather calmly, it's quite long. For Rabat and the first competitions, I just need to get myself into gear. It might take me a few competitions to get back to 100%, but I just want to get myself into gear, do some good things, work on my technique, improve on what I'm already doing and take on harder poles, too. What I did in Nanjing this winter reassured me. I see the articles coming out for my return. Obviously, I want to produce what I know I can do and be at 100%. But at the same time, I know how much work there is still to do.