Anthony Jeanjean at the Olympics: Olympic bronze after a terrible accident for the BMX ace

3rd and bronze medalist in the final of the Olympic Games in BMX street, Anthony Jeanjean imposed as one of the best in the discipline, making us forget the violent fall that almost ended his career in 2018.

Anthony Jeanjean won the bronze medal at the Paris Olympics in BMW street, a spectacular discipline where you have to string together tricks to get the best possible score. His fall during the first run of Anthony Jeanjean's final temporarily froze the atmosphere at the Concorde, but his second run set things on fire, without however allowing him to ultimately beat the Argentinian Torres Gil, gold medalist ahead of the Briton Kieran Reilly. His bronze medal still has the taste of a beautiful revenge.

7th in the Tokyo Olympics after a fall in the final, the Frenchman almost lost everything three years earlier in a much more violent fall. The Béziers native, now a triple European champion, fell several meters in training in June 2018 while trying a brand new trick to add to his range of “tricks”.

The diagnosis was then final, as he recalled a few months later in an interview with Ouest-France after his bronze medal at the 2022 World Championships. “It was a big hit, that's for sure. I landed flat on my stomach,” he said before detailing the injuries he suffered: “Punctured bladder, crushed lungs and fractured kidney. I lost consciousness.” The BMX street ace will spend three weeks in intensive care before being firm with the doctors. An end to his career as mentioned ? “Never in my life”, he will answer. The first question I asked the doctors was: “When will I be able to start again” ? BMX is my whole life, I dedicate all my days to it, so it was out of the question. It's just part of our sport. “Anthony Jeanjean would resume training just three months later before winning his first European title a year later!

The accident and its aftermath still changed a few habits in Anthony Jeanjean's life. He thus called himself “less crazy”, a character trait perceptible during the qualifications where he assured to take the 5th qualifying place, without showing his best figures or revealing his best cards. With the approach of the Olympics at home, the supervision was also able to professionalize. “Today, there is really everything to prevent this from happening again, he admitted in 2022. The process of learning our tricks is much less dangerous than it was back then. We first try on foam pits, then on resin pits before working on classic parks, he rejoices. Personally, I am less crazy than before. I listen more to my body when it is tired. “The key to success and a first French Olympic medal won this Wednesday in this young discipline…