Laura Augé, a 2016 Olympian in duet from France, announced on her Instagram account on October 13 that she was coming out of retirement to try to make the French national team again and to help it qualify to the 2020 Olympic Games.
Augé had announced her retirement from the sport following the 2017 FINA World Championships, where she only swam in the free combination event, after nearly seven years on the senior national team. She represented the nation at the 2016 Olympic Games in the duet with Margaux Chrétien. The two placed eighth, the best finish for France since the 2004 Olympics.
On her Instagram post, she explained she decided to come back to elite for the 2020 Olympics, as with the change in team quotas, France has a realistic chance of qualifying a full team. That possibility is ultimately what pushed her to come back.
“The decision to come back wasn’t easy; a lot of questions, a lot of doubts,” she said. “[…] But this project is too beautiful, too crazy, and the opportunity to live all these moments once more won’t happen again at my age! It’s my last chance to re-live excellence, and I want to seize it.”
She is however very realistic in all the work she needs to do before earning a permanent spot on the eight-person team, and after more than a full year away from the sport. She is currently working as a physiotherapist in Marseille, and trains at night to get back into shape.
“I am training alone right now, and it’s going to be a long road ahead to try to get back to a level good enough for the national team,” she wrote. “But I hope I will make it! A lot of weight to lose, a lot of muscles to gain, and a lot of flexibility I never really had to start with that I need to find again!”
Augé will be back in early November to the INSEP training center in Paris to train full time with the senior national team squad.
Article by Christina Marmet.
Cover photo by Al Bello/Getty Images. Laura Augé is in the foreground.
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