MagdaWietHenin JUN JANG

Elite athletes face enormous pressure. Pressure they place on themselves to achieve. Pressure from the weight of expectation of teams, families and countries.

France’s Magda Wiet Henin is well accustomed to it: She has spent more than a decade competing at the highest level, holding Olympic bronze and numerous World, Grand Prix and Open medals. Now, it’s time to relax and have fun.

“I really want to enjoy every Grand Prix and every tournament I do because am getting old,” she said. “I want to have a different approach to the fight. I want to enjoy my training; want to enjoy my fights. I really want to give 100 percent and have no regrets.”

There were no regrets in Rome where she made it “third time lucky” to finally claim Grand Prix gold in the Italian capital.

“I did the [Roma Grand Prix] in 2018 and got silver. In 2019 I got bronze and this time I got gold, so I’m really pleased. It feels really great. My mom was watching me,” she said.

Feeling more pressure in European and World Championships, she said, “In

ROME,Italy(Jun.4,2022)

Grand Prix, I feel more free. I can do different types of fights. I can enjoy more. I feel great to fight with the top athletes; with people we don’t always see when we are in Europe. So, it feels really good.”

She continued, “I can be less focused on strategy and enjoy doing new stuff. At the Grand Prix I just want to have fun.” Even so, nobody gets to this level of the sport without having a very strong without having a strong desire to win

“I am very competitive,” Wiet Henin admitted. “When I come inside the ring I will do everything to win. But do not want to put in my head want gold. I did this at the Olympics [Tokyo 2020] and it brought so much pressure and I didn’t enjoy the fighting.”

She makes the point that training, however hard, does not mirror competition.

“Training is not the real fight. You can do everything training but when you walk into the ring with the opponent, it’s very different.”

The next GP will take place in Paris, Wiet Henin’s home city. Naturally, she is relishing the opportunity to compete in front of a home crowd.

“It will be the first Grand Prix in Paris., it will also be good to see how the Olympics will be,” she said. “I can’t wait to fight in Paris.”

Understandably as a French athlete, the Paris 2024 Olympic Games is never far from her mind and she is well aware of the ambitions of her federation, which has never won an Olympic gold.

“Every Olympics we get a medal; we get silver, we get bronze, but we’ve never got gold,” she said. “So, for them we want to get the first gold. For myself, I’m looking forward to fighting in Paris in the Olympics and of course I want to win at home.”

After the restrictions placed on Tokyo 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Magda is confident that her fellow Taekwondo athletes will have a positive experience when the Olympic rings appear over the City of Light.

“The arena will be in the center of Paris so will be very beautiful,” she said. “I hope the organisation will be done very well and we will have the supporters back in the real spirit of the Olympics.”