3 questions to Delphine Cousin

26/02/2024

With 4 PWA World Championship titles to her name, including a foil/slalom double in 2019, France's Delphine Cousin has left her mark on women's windsurfing. After an Olympic campaign with a view to selection for Paris 2024, she is finally bowing out at the age of 32. Speaking to Windsurfjournal.com, she looks back on her decision to retire from the sport and on her fine career...

Windsurfjournal.com: After your partner in life, Antoine Questel, it's your turn to announce your retirement from sport. Apart from not being selected for the Olympic Games, what motivated this decision?
Delphine Cousin: When I started this new Olympic project 3 years ago, I had already decided that it would be my last sporting project. In 2019, I was double foil and slalom world champion on the PWA World Tour and then came the Covid. Everything is at a standstill, the PWA circuit is suffering and even if Antoine Questel and I manage to keep our partners, it's not the same thing any more. I'm someone who needs goals, and with no more competitions, I feel like I'm training in a vacuum. I'm starting a personal professional project with the creation of a seafood tasting in the family business, which I'll be looking after for nearly 6 months. At that point, the iQFOil was officially selected for the Olympics. The project arrived just in time and I decided to go for it! With all the uncertainty about the PWA circuit, I committed to doing both, giving priority to the iQFOil, but I knew it would be my last sporting project.

WJ: How do you look back on your career, particularly from 2010 to 2018 when you were at the forefront of the slalom?
DC: I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved in terms of sporting results. I've been lucky enough to be well supported by Antoine Questel and my brother Alexandre throughout the years in my preparation, testing equipment, managing contracts, organising travel... and so on. We're a team! Being on the top step of the podium is really great, but I realise that the hardest thing now will be to stay there! You also develop your game thanks to your opponents, and for that I'd like to thank Sarah-Quita Offringa, Marion Mortefon and Lena Erdil, with whom we've fought all these years to win these world titles! At this point in my career, it's only the performance that counts. It's hard to single out just one moment in an entire career, but this last slalom title in 2019 had a special flavour with the final event in New Caledonia. I'd injured my foot a month and a half earlier sailing in waves, and I still hadn't recovered when I arrived in Nouméa. After a slightly difficult start to the race and a big battle with Marion, I finally managed to get over that and win this new title! I also remember all those Défi Wind with fin, during which we always ended up with Marion and later Justine Lemeteyer at mark 1, never to let go of each other again for the whole race among over 1000 competitors! Memories that will stay with us forever!

WJ: Your last Olympic experience obviously taught you a lot of things, even though you already had a lot of experience... Can you tell us about it?
DC: The Olympic world is quite an experience! I had experimented for a few years in RS:X, but I really didn't like the medium. I learnt a lot because I had to adapt to a new way of working, which wasn't the one I'd developed over the years in the PWA, where I was completely autonomous. The Olympic Games in sailing means training in a group for 4 years, only to end up with just one selection. It's difficult to get everyone involved in a project like this. From my point of view, this format brings out the worst in people, both myself and others. There have been some major human disappointments, but there have also been some superb encounters. That means a lot of questioning and also the desire to change things at your own level, for yourself but also for the group. After being selected for the French national team, I had high expectations of the coaching staff, and I ended up being rather disappointed. Despite a technical lead at the start of the Olympiad, which was good for me, I still lacked the experience of upwind/downwind racing that Olympic girls have always had. I also had to relearn how to sail a new type of boat, accept losing again, work on my self-confidence and find a way of working that suited me in this group. It clearly hasn't been easy! My results went up and down, the women's group split up for various reasons, and at that point I saw it as a failure. I attach a lot of importance to the people who share my project, whether they are athletes or coaches, and humanly speaking it's been very complicated. Finally, in this last year of selection, with my group (Lucie Belbeoch, Marion Couturier, Manon Pianazza and coach Nicolas Huguet) we have managed to find a way of working that allows everyone to express themselves. We've all got our strengths and weaknesses, we're very caring, and we do everything we can to help the group develop its skills, and even if there are ups and downs in the results, I'm really proud of what we've managed to achieve! "The most important thing is not the destination, but the path travelled". This quote has really taken on meaning for me, because looking back, I think it's the most important thing, because no matter what the medal or the sporting performance, when it all comes to an end what counts is what you build around this project. Of course, I would have liked to have qualified to represent France at Paris 2024, and the aim of this project is obviously to surpass yourself in sporting terms, but sometimes you have to admit that you weren't good enough or that you were stronger than you were. I really loved taking part in the early days of the iQFOil. This support is incredible, the evolution has been monstrous in 4 years, so I can't wait to see what the next few years will bring, I'll be following it closely!