For Hilary Kpatcha (long jump), “our bodies play a central role in our lives”

Hilary Kpatcha (27) is one of the great hopes of French athletics. Supported by Banque Populaire Occitane, she is now the new French long jump record holder, after finishing 11^th in Paris 2024. Below is the transcript of a fascinating conversation with an athlete who is thoughtful, compassionate, and almost philosophical about her career and her sport.

How did you get into athletics?

My parents weren’t particularly into sport. In fact, I was talent-spotted by the man who would subsequently become my coach, Jean-Luc Senat. I’d just taken part in a cross-country race at the middle school where he taught physical education. I didn’t do particularly well in the race but he was able to see that I had a gift for athletics and asked me to join the club where he coached. I refused a couple of times until, one day, he came to my home to talk to my parents. It’s not usual for a teacher to do that! They told me: “At least give it a try. If you don’t like it, you can stop.” That’s how I ended up at the Balma athletics club to discover this discipline. And I’ve never looked back…

It’s remarkable for a teacher to have that amount of perseverance and insight to identify physical aptitude in a simple cross-country race…

Yes, there’s a lot behind this story. Jean-Luc was quite an incredible person. He was passionate about teaching young people and had a real gift for it. He was so kind, and he protected me from so many things… I was really lucky to cross his path. Without him, I wouldn’t be the person I am today. He taught me through movement, through sport. He passed away in October 2022, so he didn’t get to see me compete in the 2024 Paris Olympics. But he fought hard against his illness. He was a force of nature, grit personified! I was with him until the end… Just as he had always been there for me. He is part of who I am and why I keep going. Every little milestone I complete in my career and in my life is in his honor. I think of him every step of the way.

How did you get into the long jump?

Jean-Luc loved combined events. His attitude was that you should try your hand at everything and, above all, take part in all types of sport to develop different skills through different disciplines, especially your sense of coordination. So I did running, throwing and jumping. They all enabled me to develop different abilities. I competed in combined events every year and also qualified in individual disciplines. At the French championships, I chose one, the long jump, where I was particularly gifted.

Beyond developing multiple skills, combined events also require athletes to develop a certain mindset…

That’s true. Combined events are more than a mere sport; they’re a philosophy. I learned a lot taking part in these events. In particular, they taught me to stay focused on the present moment. In a pentathlon or heptathlon, for example, you go from one discipline to another, and when you do poorly in one event, you have to be able to put that disappointment behind you and focus on the next event. It’s a psychological reflex that has served me well over the years. It’s even useful in everyday life. These combined events also offer the additional advantage of creating a lot of solidarity between the athletes.

What do you like about your discipline?

The long jump requires all of my abilities, i.e., speed, explosiveness, footwork, muscle tone, etc. Then, once you’ve mastered the movement, you feel like you’re being sucked into the jump… With the build-up of speed during the run-up and then the push off the board, you feel like you’re being carried away, sucked in… It’s exhilarating! It’s also a sport that calls for a lot of precision. It’s a question of motor skills and pace; the concept of pace is very important. You then have to stay braced to absorb the impact of the push-off. It’s important just then not to lose any speed when you push off; you mustn’t break your stride but make sure to maintain your horizontal speed to be able to jump as far as possible. It means being intimately aware of your body.

From the outside, it looks like a simple, almost natural movement but, in reality, it’s incredibly complex…

Yes, that’s the whole paradox and beauty of the long jump. When you watch it, it looks simple, but behind it there’s a huge amount of work. It’s also a competition, and that calls for a strategy. You have to know when it’s best to play it safe and when, on the contrary, you have to take risks… You also have to manage your emotions. It’s taught me so much about myself…

How did you reach the elite level?

It was in 2019 when I became European U23 champion. I reached a milestone with a jump of 6.81m, just one centimeter short of qualifying for the Tokyo Olympics. I was 21 years old at the time… So I began by winning medals at the junior level, and then came the transition and the promotion to the French senior team.

If you had to choose one value that’s important to you in this sport, what would it be?

Sport has taught me the importance of movement. Nothing is ever frozen, everything is constantly in motion. Even when it’s difficult, you have to keep moving your body, stay mobile in all circumstances, and get active. When athletics no longer works, you have to move on to something else. Even when you’re injured. I had a serious knee injury and I learned to start with one small thing, and then another. Set yourself a small, attainable goal every day, even if it’s tiny, the important thing is to keep moving forward. And that made me realize how our bodies play a central role in our lives. I feel that, in our contemporary society, we’re so disconnected from our bodies. And this is even true for athletes. We use our bodies too much as a tool to achieve a result without fully appreciating that our bodies are truly temples. We prefer to push them to the limit, even if it means breaking them in the hope of winning a medal… But good health is our only true asset. After my coach developed a cancer, I began to see things differently.

How do you feel about Paris 2024? The period leading up to it and then afterwards?

Before the Games, I was recovering from a serious injury… I wanted to prove that I could come back and be good enough to compete… All the different parts had to fall into place. I’m proud of myself for achieving that. At that time, I had to approach things like someone setting up a new business, by creating a team to help me achieve that goal. It took a lot of energy… This effort may have created a drag on my performance, a small difference that prevented me from doing better than 11^th place in the final. I arrived with a body already in distress and I was unable to express my full potential. It was a shock for my ego.

But I saw that I was capable of creating a project, that I had a great body, capable of regenerating itself and accepting constraints. At the same time, I felt really bitter about it; I had pushed my body very hard which wasn’t a very good thing for me to do. If I’d continued down that path, I would have lost my way and pushed myself into burn-out. But one fundamental notion is that of ‘longevity.’ What was interesting for me was building a long-term career and, at the end of it, having my mind and body still in good shape. So I decided to create a more professional environment for myself and surround myself with coaches who were familiar with high-level sport.

In the end, I was very happy to have taken part in the Games. I was emerging from a difficult period with the death of my coach and an injury. My body is different now because it carries the memory of those injuries.

What are your next sporting goals?

My injury forced me in many ways to learn how to compensate. I had to start working on everything again. My plans are based on the long term. First, I need to protect my body, and once I’ve mastered that, I can go further and push myself harder. This means developing technical consistency as far as my performance is concerned. To be an Olympic champion, you not only have to jump over 7 meters, you have to do it consistently. I’ve already jumped over 7 meters; I now have to become consistent at those distances. To do that, I need to compete in major competitions like the Diamond League to test myself against the very best. Medals and French records will only come after completion of this basic groundwork, of building up my body and finding a new balance.

What is your greatest strength?

My commitment. When I decide to do something, I see it through to the very end. And I’m able to pick myself up again when I fall. I also have a great ability to know myself and my body. In terms of athletic ability, my greatest strength is my explosiveness. Let’s just say I have a good nervous system.

What do you think about when in doubt?

I think back over what I’ve been through. I know I have inner strength. Doubt is part of the process. I accept being in doubt. It’s just a temporary phase. The important thing is to keep moving, even if things are still a little unclear… That’s what helps me accept me as I am at different moments, and enables me to put strategies in place. If keep doing my job, my doubt will also fade away… Everything is subject to change.

What is a typical day for you?

I wake up without fail at 7:30 a.m. I have a good breakfast of hard-boiled eggs, avocado, tea, or coffee. No bread. Instead, I have a fruit compote with bananas, raisins, nuts… and a glass of water. I also include pelvic stretches and yoga exercises in my morning routine. And then I write in notebooks; I have a habit of jotting down my ideas. Then I go to training from 11:00 a.m. to 1:00 p.m. I then have lunch, where I mix starchy foods, vegetables, and protein. My food needs to be as colorful as possible. Then I take a short nap and go to the physical therapist, who gives me treatment based on breathing, stretching, and massage. I go back to the INSEP National Institute of Sport where I either have a second training session when I’m not in the middle of the season, or I read and have a rest. I’ve come to accept passive boredom; it’s also part of the recovery process. This is something that took me a while to realize! Before, I was all fired up, I filled my schedule to bursting point… but that just led to additional fatigue.

Have you developed a dual career path?

Throughout my years with the youth team, I combined sport and academic studies. The year I was injured, I couldn’t keep up with my classes and follow my rehabilitation program at the same time. I did a DUT (technical degree) in business and administration, then a bachelor’s degree in human resources on a work/study basis but it was too much… When I have to shoulder less mental pressure, I’ll go back to my studies. But I need my studies to be meaningful, i.e. they have to prepare me for a specific project. My idea is to see what’s missing from the world of high-level sport and try to fill that gap.

How did you ‘meet’ Banque Populaire Occitane?

Banque Populaire Occitane contacted me before the Tokyo Olympics. I’ve always belonged to the local Balma club, and I’m still a licensed member. I clicked with the team at the bank right away; they’re a group of really nice people. I felt bad for them when I injured my knee quite badly soon after we started working together. But they’ve been incredibly supportive. They saw me going through a tough time, losing my coach, and they have always been there for me. They know my background and my future plans. They even want to support me after the end of my sporting career. It’s great to have partners who aren’t just following you until the Paris 2024 Games and then losing interest. No, they’re helping me build myself both as an athlete and as a woman… it feels so good! I’m also part of the Army of Champions, which provides fundamental support. If I managed to clear 7 meters, if I made it to the Games, it’s thanks to Banque Populaire Occitane and the Army. I wouldn’t be where I am today without them…