Born on 7 July 1992 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye (France), Valentin Ménard is a former work colleague of our friend Rémi Guyot. Déclic – Les secrets de la préparation mentale des légendes du sport [Click – The Secrets of Mental Preparation of Sports Legends], his essay due out on 1 October 2026 from Éditions Eyrolles, offers a […]
Valentin Ménard – The Click (That Moment When Champions Just Know) Read More »
Born on October 16, 1999 in Włocławek (Poland), Angelika Szymańska has for several years caught observers’ attention with the calm, disciplined determination that comes through in every one of her grips and in her slightest standing-to-ground transitions. World No. 7 in the U63kg category just days before the Baku World Championships, she is one of
Angelika Szymańska – With the Restraint of Those Still on Their Way Read More »
And suddenly the view shifted. The first weekend of July 2026 marked a turning point. On the 3rd, Faïza Mokdar, twenty-four, world No. 3 in U57, announced the end of her career (see below). In the days that followed, at the football World Cup, the unpunished acts of anti-play in France–Paraguay, the almost regal reinstatement
From an Old Continent – Episode 5/13 – Summer 2026 Read More »
Born on July 13, 1998, in Samarkand, Uzbekistan, Diyora Keldiyorova is the 2024 Olympic champion in the U52kg category. A recent documentary by the International Judo Federation produced with the support of Fighting Films in collaboration with the International Olympic Committee, looks back at this pivotal achievement as the woman who was also world silver
Diyora Keldiyorova – Another Giant Leap for (Wo)Mankind Read More »
Born on November 26, 1973 in Nice (France), Habib Alouache belongs to that category of teachers who make it a point of honor to stay (almost) as physically sharp as their students. A leadership ethic born of a mindset constantly on a razor’s edge, and of the conviction that credibility may only exist through embodiment.
Habib Alouache – Teaching Joy Read More »
Born on March 20, 1976 in Grenoble (France), Alexandre Paysan is both one of the reasons for and an extension of judo journalism’s famous “right of follow-up.” Interviewed in the summer of 2018 as part of a report on the European Veterans Championships in Glasgow, the fifth dan was at that time in charge of
Alexandre Paysan – We Saw Him in the Vercors, Bungee Jumping… Read More »
Born on October 20, 1936 in Castelliri (Italy), eighth-dan René “Natch” Nazaret passed away during the night of July 25 to 26, 2026. He was eighty-nine years old. Almost exactly twenty years ago, on July 25 and 27, 2006, we spent two full afternoons at his apartment in Lyon’s seventh arrondissement retracing – with his
Rest in Peace, René Nazaret (1936-2026) Read More »
Born on November 14, 1961, in Salins-les-Bains (France), Patrick Grosperrin first came into my life through a professional encounter. In July 2017, a partnership between the Lyon Press Club – on whose board I was sitting at the time – and the telecom operator Orange, where Patrick was then a management trainer, gave us a
Patrick Grosperrin – Laterality, a Little-Known Lever of Performance Read More »
Brace yourself and let settle slowly. “I rather believe that the West’s inexhaustible capacity to disconnect words from deeds has long rendered its modernity both unintelligible and illegitimate to those it has designated as others, even if they may have benefited from it by default.” Twenty-five years after the publication of her stimulating essay L’Occident
From an Old Continent – Episode 4/13 – Spring 2026 Read More »
