LEMBACH Charlotte

General
RIO 2016 DISAPPOINTMENT
In 2020 she revealed that she almost quit fencing after failing to win a medal at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She only returned to the national team after agreeing to train and compete part-time. "After the [2016] Games, it was a very difficult period. All year, we had made podiums and won medals. We were almost used to it. But in Rio, we took a hit because it was a scenario that we had not planned for. We weren't ready to accept what happened. I already had it in my head the idea that if I became an Olympic champion, I would stop fencing. A month-and-a-half after the Games, when all I had was the desire to be alone and not to hear about sport, the coaches asked me to rejoin the training group. I told them no, and that if I came back, it would be on my terms. I didn't want to do fencing exclusively. I wanted to go to work two days a week." (byathlete.com, 13 Jul 2020)

MENTAL WORK
In 2020 she said she had been working on improving her mental approach to fencing. "I am a very powerful and very explosive person, and not at all patient. When there is a problem, I like the solution to be found quickly, and inevitably things goes wrong when I and my coach cannot find it. This is when I have to channel this explosiveness and envy. Thanks to my mental trainer, I am looking for the tools to refocus on myself and to do mental visualisation in particular. Fencing is a tactical game and you have to succeed in trapping the other when you are facing an obstacle." (besidesport.com, 01 Sep 2020)

POST-TOKYO 2020 PLANS
After the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo she plans to retire from fencing to pursue a career in sports marketing in her home city of Strasbourg, France. "You could say that I am getting towards the end of my career, but as long as my body holds up, I will continue. It is true that with Paris hosting the 2024 Olympics, there is motivation to continue. But when I do return to normal life, I cannot sit behind a desk. I need to be out there in the field, perhaps working at sports events. I need to keep moving." (pokaa.fr, 10 Jan 2021; strasbourg.eu, 01 Sep 2018; lesportbusiness.com, 03 Aug 2018)

EARLY DAYS AND LEAVING HOME
At age 17 she moved from her hometown of Strasbourg to pursue elite fencing training at the National Institute for Sport, Expertise and Performance [INSEP] in Paris. "I was in high school in Strasbourg and I was given an ultimatum, which was that if I did not join the French national training group now, I would never join. My mother took all the steps to get me to go, but for my part, I wanted to focus on my final high school exams. I had no choice and I went reluctantly. In addition, when I arrived, the atmosphere, especially between the youngest and the oldest, was not very welcoming. I failed my high school exams that year because I was no longer going to class and I was a bit depressed. I arrived in the Parisian suburbs with people I did not know, and that year was very hard. The following years, things got better, but I made myself a promise never to subject what I had undergone to other newcomers at INSEP. Instead, I welcome them with open arms and I make sure that their integration goes well." (besidesport.com, 01 Sep 2020)