To begin with, it was “a bit disappointed” to be named in the comeback category of the Night of Champions that, on Tuesday at Insep, will honor 175 athletes for their performances in 2022. Yohann Ndoye Brouard, 22 years old, did not understand that he was class among the “return after a life event”, type injury, accident, pregnancy… Complicated for him to save the failure radius of the 2021 Olympic Games given the positive generated behind, European title in 200 meters back to the key last summer. Then he got the idea: losing his turn in the semifinals of the Olympic Games, hitting his head against the wall – a rare accident – at Mondovisió and, incidentally, facing the ridicule of the networks, was still a test.
He had immediately sunk back into the bathroom. In the literal sense of the word. In Tokyo, I had redone the length of the basin several times to understand it. Conclusion: A spotlight had dazzled him, preventing him from seeing the pennants 45 meters away. Explanation: Yohann Ndoye Brouard suffers from keratoconus, a degenerative disease that deforms the cornea – he also couldn’t distinguish his times on the markers.
He had eye surgery
He had surgery a few weeks later to stop the development. Then he comes up with Didier Rosset, an optician from Chambéry (Savoie) friend of his grandmother, who develops the project of making a prototype from the glasses of his equipment manufacturer. A great technical and technological challenge that, from the ophthalmologist to the laboratory, required “good coordination of a chain of professionals”emphasizes Laurent Dosseville, whose company Transitions supplied the XTRActive lenses, which filter the light responsible for glare.
“Since then, I’ve had the same vision throughout the race”, reports Yohann Ndoye Brouard, which is based on three different pairs depending on the conditions (transparent, adaptive and solar lenses) – expensive prototypes that recently had to be redone due to a chlorine-related wear phenomenon. In general, his visual acuity has even tripled. And it also played a role in his muscle development, which is now more balanced. By Didier Rosset, “Glasses count 100% in their success today”. The person concerned struggles to quantify in this way but confesses to having done so “one less weight”: “I just have to concentrate on my performance and that frees me up. » This is demonstrated by his three medals at the 2022 European Championships in Rome (gold with a French record, therefore, silver in 4×100 meters medley and bronze in 100 meters backstroke).
Black cat or lucky star
“Basically, maybe I had to hit a wall to start this whole thing”, he says, wondering about the monitoring of athletes in this area. He’s grateful that his story has piqued the interest of other swimmers he’s trying to help. “Humanly, it is very strong”, he also says, thinking of Didier Rosset, who became his patron: “Unfortunately, I found one of my best partners. » His tendency to build himself up in difficulties gives him the impression that he provokes him to surpass himself. Example before his title in Rome: his starting block had fallen off – a rare thing – and he had to qualify for the final by swimming alone against him in the water, to a standing ovation from the crowd. “Great Yohanna”as his relatives say.
The licensee of the Dauphins of Annecy could represent himself as a black cat, he prefers to evoke the lucky star that guides him. A matter of character. These adventures have opened doors for him. Now he intends to force those of the world championships in Japan this summer, after Paris 2024, where he aims “a walkway”.
Source : Le JDD
