Marc Dansou was eliminated in the 50m freestyle heat, on July 30, 2021 in Tokyo, at the Olympics, with a time of 24 seconds99. However, he showed his pleasure in swimming at the Olympics, 18 years after his debut with Benin.
From our special correspondent in Tokyo,
“I’m tired but it feels good to swim! »A wide smile, Marc Dansou enjoys a series of 50-meter freestyle that the Beninées waited impatiently for. “I’m a little disappointed with my competition, because my entry into the water was not very good. Afterwards I will return to the others, he decodes. But I wanted to swim in less than 25 seconds and that’s done. I could have done a little better, but I’m still happy.
For the 37-year-old swimmer, it is still a joy to be in Tokyo even though there are no spectators, and even if the adventure ends in the first race. Because these Olympics, the native of Paris was waiting for them. “I have been swimming for a very long time,” says the person who lives in France. I started with Benin in 2003. It’s going back! I could see the progress and improvements in African swimming ”.
A long parenthesis
Marc Dansou has defended the Beninese colors for two decades. If his name Aloïs Dansou participated in the 2004 and 2008 Olympic Games, the road to the Olympics was longer and more curved for Paris. “My history with my federation (FBNA) is a bit difficult,” he says. I competed in the WC 2003, 2005 and 2007. I would then have gone to the games, but it did not happen … I then returned to working life, to finance, with a little schedule. I wanted to come back to the competition in 2018. But my federation has put me at the wheel ”. He blows: “I struggled more outside the pools than in the water to get my place here. But I still have the motivation and desire to swim. ”
Supported in particular by Benin’s Olympic Committee, his coach and his relatives, Marc Dansou did not give up and won his case. And he could share the same pool as stars in the discipline of French Florent Manaudou or American Caeleb Dressel. “I take this experience with a big smile, because I had fun here and saw very good swimmers. The organization of these Olympics is very good. It is a pity that there is no audience. But I’m still happy, he concludes.
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