Olympic hopes back in Geneva: swimmer Desplanches escapes from the “Hulk Hogan” camp.

class=”sc-cffd1e67-0 fmXrkB”>

Jérémy Desplanches (29) pulls the emergency brakes three weeks before the World Cup and six months before the Olympic Games. The Swiss Olympic hopeful will move back to his hometown of Geneva with immediate effect and will once again train with his club Genève Natation under coach Clément Bailly.

The report from the Swiss Swimming Association comes out of nowhere. What’s going on at Desplanches? He emigrated to Martigues, France in 2021 with high goals. With the sensational bronze medal from Tokyo in his pocket, the man from Geneva wanted to get even better under French star coach Philippe Lucas. Lucas is the most colorful coach in the swimming world, a tough dog and because of his appearance the Frenchman is called “Hulk Hogan”.

The swimming hero’s career stagnated

At first, Desplanches is excited about his new training location, where “Hulk Hogan” trains harder than anywhere else. But then this: the man from Geneva stagnates and often gets injured. Before moving to Martigues, his rise seemed to know few bounds. European champion. Vice world champion. Then even the Olympic coup.

But Tokyo’s bronze only inspired Noe Ponti (22), the Ticino native has established himself at the top of the world and recently dominated the European Short Course Championships in Romania in December. Desplanches, the clear Swiss team leader until 2021, has not experienced much since Tokyo. Now he is canceling training in the toughest swimming camp in the world. The professional swimmer told Blick: “I’m moving to Geneva immediately, but I’ve been thinking about the change for a few weeks.”

Desplanches will now train with his national teammate Roman Mityukov (23), third place in the 200m individual medley at the 2023 World Championships. It was a national team camp that calmed Desplanches down, as he describes. “I realized that I now needed this familiar environment to achieve the results I wanted.”

In plain language: Desplanches even saw qualification for Paris 2024 in jeopardy. Now, after the wasted years with the lightning-fast transition to a new training environment, he at least wants to get a ticket for the Olympic Games at the World Cup in Qatar (2 to 18 February). Without Hulk Hogan by his side.

Source : Blick