Emotional retirement Jérémy Desplanches: "I've never cried like this in my life"
The retirement of swimmer Jérémy Desplanches is a fact. After his last individual race at the Olympic Games in Paris, everything flowed out of him.
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- Jérémy Desplanches is stepping down. Even before Paris 2024, it was clear that he would be competing in his last races at the Olympic Games.
- He had his last individual race last Friday. After going into the dressing room, he cried "an ocean full for an hour", he told Blick.
- In the near future, Desplanches wants to devote himself to running. He is running the New York Marathon with his father in November. In January, he will travel the world with his wife.
Jérémy Desplanches is retiring. The bronze medal winner from Tokyo 2021 is doing so on the big stage. He made his last appearances as a professional swimmer at the Olympic Games in Paris.
Desplanches swam one last time in the 4x100 meter medley relay last Saturday. His retirement had already been decided before the Summer Games, but he had not yet realized that his career was now over, says Desplanches in an interview with "Blick".
Emotional hours - collective weeping in the Swiss team
But there are parts of him that are already realizing his retirement. After his last individual race last Friday, everything flowed out of him. "All the dams broke," says Desplanches. During the interviews, he felt a few waves of emotion coming up, a little later it really started in the dressing room.
"I cried an ocean full for an hour. I'm not really the type to let my emotions out, I'm rather reserved. But I couldn't help it. I've never cried like that in my life." They were not tears of disappointment at missing out on the final, but rather "tears of joy, relief and gratitude".
The whole Swiss team cried with him. He will miss everyone. Everything he had sacrificed for the sport of swimming had paid off. Personal victories, team victories, the laughter in training. "I won't forget any of it. I won't regret a single meter that I swam."
Desplanches swaps swimsuit for running shoes
For Desplanches, the timing of his retirement is "perfect". He is glad that he was able to decide this himself and that it was not determined by an injury or illness.
However, it is still unclear whether the top swimmer will give up swimming straight away. "Maybe I'll swim until December, until the military championships, to have a slightly gentler finish so that it's less brutal."
The swimming suit for the really big competitions is hanging on the nail, however, so he's getting out his running shoes. In November, he will run the New York Marathon with his father. After that, Desplanches and his wife catch up on their honeymoon in January. The motto: go out into the world and enjoy life.
