Laure and Florent Manaudou abandoned by their parents ? Their father admits, “less fun at home”

Swimming champions Laure and Florent Manaudou left the family cocoon very early to devote themselves to their sporting career. A difficult but conscious choice by their father Jean-Luc.

© © Matthieu Mirville/Bestimage Florent Manaudou with his father Jean-Luc Manaudou in the stands during the French Swimming Championships in Chartres on June 18, 2024.

IN BRIEF

• Jean-Luc Manaudou shared in a documentary on Canal+ the family sacrifices for the careers of Laure and Florent Manaudou.
• Laure Manaudou left the family home at 14 years to train in Melun, a difficult but necessary decision for his career.
• Despite the distance, Jean-Luc Manaudou affirms that family ties remain strong and that parents are always there for their children.

Jean-Luc Manaudou looked back on his children's extraordinary career in a documentary broadcast this Sunday evening on Canal+. The opportunity for him to talk about the sacrifices made by the family to allow Laure and Florent to achieve their dreams of medals. Strong choices, which may have given the impression to the two champions of having been “abandoned”.

“We didn't get the feeling that she was lacking affection”

In 2001, Laure and Florent only 14 years old, Laure Manaudou leaves the family home to train in Melun with Philippe Lucas. A difficult decision for her parents. Jean-Luc Manaudou confides in this regard: “We went to see her very regularly at the competitions, she was with her friends and I didn't have the impression that the separation was painful. […] We didn't have the feeling that she was lacking affection.”

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The father of the most decorated siblings at the Olympics nevertheless understands that his daughter, now the mother of three children, can have “a more sensitive view of the situation”: “I completely understand that she says: I will never let my daughter go. Because it has not been easy for us, you must not believe it!”

A life “less fun at home”

If Laure has left At 15, his brothers Nicolas and Florent also left the family home quite young, drawn to their sports careers. “They all left the family circle young, with sports being the main reason”, says Jean-Luc Manaudou. He also adds “&From there, çcreated distance.”.

On weekends, rather than going back to her parents' house, Laure preferred to stay in Melun to party with her friends, her father says. In the columns of Le Parisien, he also specifies that his daughter led a hectic life, something that did not bother him: “You have to make atypical choices to have an atypical life. Yes, it's not necessarily reassuring. […] We didn't teach our kids that!”

“Parents are there for the whole of life”

If Laure and Florent were able to suffer from family estrangement, their father assures that he was always there in difficult moments. “When there were the photos (intimate shots revealed on the Internet by an ex), people were no longer there and we were left”, he emphasizes.  Before adding: “She came back because there was nothing much left for her (after she left Italy) and the pillar was the family. […] And if a serious matter were to occur one day, an illness… Well, yes, parents are there for life!”

On the other hand, Jean-Luc Manaudou assures us: despite the distance, family ties remain strong: “It's not because we're physically far away that we're not close. […] They know where we live, they are at home with us but they have their lives.”