Baala Raquil's inspiration
/dnl.eurosport.com/sd/img/placeholder/eurosport_logo_1x1.png){kind=logo}
ByEurosport
Published 10/08/2006 at 14:34 GMT
Hard work has paid off for Marc Raquil who belied his playboy image by fighting back after injury to win the European 400m title. The Frenchman, who struggled since winning bronze at the 2003 world championships, staged a remarkable comeback to win gold i
Eurosport
Image credit: Eurosport
"Those last two years have not been easy," the 29-year-old told reporters on Thursday.
"Just because I was not on the track people thought I was busy driving sports cars and partying with famous people while I was actually working really hard to recapture my top form."
Raquil said an important step on his way back had come during a winter training camp in South Africa he attended with fellow Frenchman Mehdi Baala, who won the 1,500 metres title, also on Wednesday.
"Mehdi was an inspiration because he's so strong mentally," Raquil said. "One day we were training together and I had to give it my very best to outsprint him at the end of a 400. I realised that day that there was hope for me."
After his bronze medal from 2003, Raquil became an instant celebrity in France.
LIMELIGHT
"Maybe I did not handle all that attention too well then," he said. "I'm better at it now."
Baala said he was not always Raquil's greatest fan but added the two had become close friends since training together.
"I didn't like the guy's attitude very much," Baala, a reticent workaholic, said on Thursday.
"He's a showman. We're really different. I told him how I felt about him, he listened to me and now we're mates."
Raquil's hair is still bleached and he never runs without his designer sunglasses but the athlete from Martinique indeed sounds wiser and more balanced than he did a few years ago.
"When people notice the hair and the glasses they think I'm showing off," he said. "That just what I want to look like on the track but I'm a different person when I wake up or when I go shopping."
UGLY STYLE
As he did in 2003 to take bronze at the worlds in Paris, Raquil produced a fantastic effort in the final straight in Wednesday's final, giving it all in his familiar, awkward running style.
"I don't like to see myself running because it's rather ugly," he said. "It's true that I like to do it the hard way but I've always been like that.
"It was the same with girls when I was a bit younger. When it was too easy, I was not interested because I knew it was not going to last."
Scan me
Related Topics
Share this article
Advertisement
Advertisement