Deconfinement: Pierre Houin, “I feel that this year of preparation for the Olympic Games will be much better”

The Lorraine rower Pierre Houin immediately resumed the rhythm of training in order to maintain optimal physical condition for the resumption of the season. He won the gold medal at the Rio 2016 Olympic Games. And he still has the same goal: to renew his exploit in 2021, in Japan, in Tokyo.
Friday May 22, 2020, at 7.45 a.m. it is already in the water. Like every day since May 11.
During the confinement, the months of preparation will not have been reduced to zero, by continuing the physical exercises at home. “I would say that habits quickly reappeared, from the first outing on the water”, says Pierre Houin. “The benchmarks came back quickly. I left things where they were on March 15, at the same technical level. And the pleasure was immediately there.”

Operation #Ramecheztoi

So on the side of physical preparation, as with all high performance athletes, Pierre has settled his life around training, but without the competition. The rowing machine in the office, the bike in the bathroom, the weight equipment in the living room. “At home in my apartment, in Nancy I spent between two and three hours in the morning training every day.”
He also participated in the operation #Ramecheztoi, Launched by the French Rowing Federation. Operation that helped people stay in shape during containment

It started to get long
–Pierre Houin

The last two weeks it started to get a little long.“I couldn’t wait to get back on the water”. However, confinement will have allowed Pierre to refocus on himself physically and also psychologically. “I realized that I needed psychological work. And I took advantage of it. It was rather useful. It had to make sense of the situation”.

Pierre Houin is well aware of the seriousness of the disease. “It is a really stressful situation.
Even if I was not afraid of the virus for me. But especially for the people around me. Afterwards we remain very vigilant. ” During the confinement, Pierre therefore learned that the Tokyo Olympic Games, scheduled for this summer, were postponed because of the coronavirus pandemic. “I would not have liked the news if I had already qualified for sure. But for me, it is good news, because we still need time. And I feel that this year I would be much more efficient “.
A priori, the Tokyo Olympics will open on July 23, 2021.