Yannick Agnel Says ‘I Think I’m Done’; Frenchman Off In Search Of A New Flame

In one of the last in-depth interviews of Yannick Agnel‘s career, he spoke to reporter Sabrina Knoll about a time of turbulence, why he left Nice and mentor Fabrice Pellerin and how the death of former teammate Camille Muffat blew new perspective into his life. That interview forms the basis of the article that follows.

“You have to make it great, we have to make every day a day where you can smile and enjoy and be yourself. That is the biggest lesson I learned from all this. She is never lost, she is in my heart, in my head. She is always there with us.” – Agnel on Muffat.

“I know what I want to do after this and it is not swimming. I think I’m done.” That is how the career of Yannick Agnel may now come to a close after the Frenchman finished 19th in 200m freestyle heats here in Rio.

The contast is stark:

London 2012 – 1:43.14, 0.72sec faster that the next swiftest man ever in a textile suit, Michael Phelps. Rio 2016: 1:47.35, 0.2sec away from a place in the top 16. The crown will pass – but that much we all but knew before he dived in, the Frenchman’s form having serted him since he won the world title in 2013.

What happened – have you lost your mojo, asked Knoll weeks out from the Olympic Games. That day he still had hope, he still believed he could get back into contention:

“I came a long way to find again the way I used to compete. I am glad that things are back again, that I am back in the game.”

A false new dawn as it turns out as strong winds blew inclement weather over Rio today, the balmy clim about to give way to cooler times.

Had it been a turbulent Olympic cycle from Agnel since he celebrated gold in the 200m freestyle and the 4x100m freestyle with teammates at London 2012?

“Absolutely. But you know, every year I have something to tell journalists, so you know … I am never bored,” he says through laughter.

Looking back at his switch from coach Pellerin to a new adventure with Bob Bowman in Baltimore, Agnel skirts the things that helped to make him an Olympic champion and says:

“Things were a little complicated, it would take hours to explain how things did not work in Nice. At first I did not want to leave Nice because it is my city: I love it, I love the people, I love the training. But things hadn’t gone well for a few years: even before London. The results were alright but that wasn’t the case in our heads, not in the way we were living. Our relationship with Fabrice was very, very complicated. I am talking for me and for Camille.”

The outdoor pool at North Baltimore Aquatic Club

It is, he adds, why he left and why she quit swimming. Agnel did not want an unhappy ending to his career and so he sought a “different experience, something else, something that is closet to my philosophy of what sport is … I wanted a new adventure”.

That he has had but the results did not travel with him. In Baltimore he was “just pleased with what [Bowman] …

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