da COSTA Steven

General
OLYMPIC POSTPONEMENT A RELIEF
During the initial 2020 COVID-19 lockdown in France the local council of Mont-Saint-Martin allowed him, his brother Logan, and their father exclusive access to train together at their dojo, USL Mont-Saint-Martin, which is located in a public building, with no one else allowed to use the premises. He said the postponement of the Olympic Games did not particularly affect him, as he had already secured qualification via his place in the world rankings. "Ultimately, it's no worse for me. It gives me time to breathe, because I was lucky to have already qualified. During confinement, in fact, I did not stop training. The dojo is located 50 metres from my home and I have the key. In training, my daily life was not impacted. After two long years to qualify, I even started to think that it wasn't so bad to have a break. I even felt some relief." (ffkarate.fr, 01 Jun 2020; france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr, 03 Apr 2020; france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr, 23 Mar 2020; ouest-france.fr, 20 Jun 2020)

TOKYO FAMILY DREAM
He says he and his brothers have always preferred to fight in different weight classes. Both Logan and Jessie planned to attempt qualification for the Olympic Games in Tokyo via the Olympic qualification tournaments. If his brothers do not qualify as athletes, they plan to travel to the Games with Steven as part of his support team. "There was never any question that we would ever fight in the same category, above all else we do not want to be competitors with each other. My twin [Jessie] is bigger in size so he naturally fights heavier, while I get stuck eating on a diet. Whatever happens, we will all be in Tokyo [in 2020] to support whichever of us qualifies." (tokyo2020.org, 02 Jun 2020; leparisien.fr, 29 Dec 2018; lemonde.fr, 21 Oct 2016; actu-karate.com, 01 Jan 2018)

OLYMPIC EXCLUSION
He said he was bitterly disappointed by karate's removal from the programme for the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. "It is totally incomprehensible. I think we deserve as much as the other sports at the Olympics. Seeing karate removed from Paris 2024, we fell from up high. In France alone, there are 300,000 practitioners, we have very young karate athletes, so it fit well in the Paris 2024 project. In addition, France is a nation that brings back lots of medals in karate. Frankly, it is disillusioning." (sncf.com, 02 Apr 2019; atraverslesport.com, 13 Oct 2019; dicodusport.fr, 27 May 2020)

OCCUPATION
He works part-time for France's national railway provider SNCF. "The job gives me a chance to be relaxed about my future. I can be a high level karate athlete without losing a salary and that takes a lot of pressure off for me. You never know what tomorrow will bring, and an injury can end everything quickly. If my karate career stops tomorrow I would simply start working full-time at the station." (tokyo2020.org, 02 Jun 2020; leparisien.fr, 29 Dec 2018; sans-filtre.fr, 29 Jan 2018)

In 2020 he became the first French athlete to qualify for an Olympic Games in the sport of karate. (tokyo2020.org, 02 Jun 2020; france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr, 03 Apr 2020)

He became the youngest French male karateka to win an individual world championship gold medal when he triumphed in the -67kg category at the 2018 edition of the tournament in Madrid, Spain. (SportsDeskOnline, 26 Jan 2021; republic-lorrain.fr, 24 Nov 2018)