He tried, sweated again as in the good old days. But he has not succeeded in his challenge to come back to the highest level after 15 years of retirement in order to compete in the Tokyo Olympics. His 50 years old body said stop.

Christophe Pinna does not come out unscathed from his Olympic adventure, physically and mentally. He has a lot on his heart but he does not regret anything. He explains it.

By Ludovic Mauchien / Photos : Amandine Lauriol

What is your look on your Olympic adventure ?

I work by challenge. And it was a challenge, as well as running through the desert with food and self-sufficiency, as I did. Afterwards, if it can close some mouths, since I hear : « it was useless, anyway, he was not going to succeed », the interest of a challenge is to not not be sure that you can do it.

That's what is beautiful, otherwise it would not have any emotional flavor. I am sorry ! Let everyone stop dreaming then ! That's the point of a challenge, is that you hold onto a dream and hope to realize it.

We all said we would like to be world champion. But it was not won in advance. A challenge is to catch your heart, get up every morning with exceptional energy to achieve this challenge ! It's made to see if you have the courage to get up in the morning and kick your ass.

Waouh, you seem upset ?...

I am speaking to those who are embittered and mean to my challenge. If the seed is in your head and you say « I would like to try » and you have a Christophe Pinna who does, after a while, you become mean against him, just because you have the seed but not the balls to do it. That's what I remember from my olympic challenge. People who criticize are precisely those who did not have 2 seconds the courage to question themselves !

On the other hand, I absolutely do not criticize those of my generation for whom the fact of learning that Karate became Olympic did not shake them. On the contrary, I myself would have liked not to be shaken. I would have preferred ! I spoke with Gilles (Cherdieu), Mickael (Braun), Romain (Anselmo) ... For them, the page is turned, it's great !

Unfortunately, a scar that I thought completely closed was reopened. It's like you've lost a bunch of keys. You try to move on but, every 5 minutes, it’s : « ah ! I'll go see in this drawer. I'm sure they are there ». And for 3 days, you look for your keys ! This is what happened to me. Olympic karate has come into my head. I was part of the generation who put the rings on the kimono !

To listen to you, it seems the idea was not that good...

Until now, I have a negative point of view. But, in this adventure, humanly speaking, I lived huge things, especially out of France ! When I'm asked to fight in London, to do seminars... because I'm injecting a dynamic image. I'm 50 years old, I line up, I train, I did not win what I wished to win in those two years but, on the other hand, I was not ridiculous on the tatami and for all that, I really suffered a lot physically.

I had a lot of physical problems ! In 2 years, I have had more injuries than in all my sports career. It's my fault. I made bullshit. That's the only thing I'm bitter about, which I regret. I did not think my body was going to abandon me. I thought that my will and my body would work in the same direction. But, after 8-9 months of training, my body said to me : « Stop ! Take a break. This is no longer possible ». He made a total refusal. It's very difficult when you have your head going in one direction and the body in the other.

This time, for sure, we will not see you again in competition ?

I still have an Olympic dream, but it is no longer essential. The dream is still beautiful, but there is an acceptance. A year back, I did not see any other possibilities than going to the Olympics. Everything was focused on it. But today, I am no longer in conflict with myself, in the sense that my body is what it is and that my mind accepts it. When there is a duality between both, at some point, you galleys ! You do bullshit, you get too infiltrated, it falls on you... But that’s life (he laughs) !

I was hospitalized a lot, I reeducate my back. Today, I enjoy myself, Karate remains a passion. To say that I will not be seen again, I do not know... But I would never go as far physically as I have been for the past two years ! Never !