Thibaut Fauconnet

Reason for choosing this sport	"My parents wanted me to do a sport and seeing as I liked going to the ice rink and skating, I thought why not give it a try. But I was horrible in the beginning. I fell over all the time. It's funny, I have progressed from someone who could not even qualify for the French national championships, to a skater capable of winning everything."
When and where did you begin this sport?	He began skating in 1992 in Dijon, France.

Other information

RETIREMENT In 2019 he retired from competition and took up the position of assistant coach with the US national short track team in the lead-up to the 2022 Olympic Winter Games in Beijing. "I decided to quit. This [2019 northern hemisphere] summer, I was training and I had planned to make the season. For some time, I had been doing other things in life - I tinkered with my apartment, did outdoor races on roller skates or bikes, went trail runs, lots of things like when I was a kid. But of all the sports I played, the one that I enjoyed the least was on the ice. The US team suggested that I go and work as a coach with them, so I said yes. This was not the first time I had thought about quitting. If I stopped, I knew that at my age there would be no turning back." (leparisien.fr, 18 Oct 2019) CHOOSING BLADES OVER WHEELS He says it was a tough choice to focus on short track over roller speed skating. "I started [roller speed skating] when I was eight years old. I was doing short track during winter and inline speed skating during summer. I even qualified for Team France in inline but I eventually had to choose between the two sports because you can't spread yourself too thinly." (passionpvss.blogspot.com, 07 Aug 2018) SANCTION He returned a positive sample for the banned substance tuaminoheptane, a nasal decongestant, following a World Cup event in December 2010. The French Ice Sports Federation [FFSG] said the nasal drops were prescribed by his own doctor without the appropriate authorisation for therapeutic use. In October 2011 he was suspended for 18 months by the International Skating Union [ISU]. He admitted negligence on his part but claimed the penalty was disproportionate to his mistake, and launched an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS]. The ban was temporarily lifted in November 2011, allowing him to compete in the 2011/12 season. However, in May 2012 CAS upheld the initial suspension, invalidating his results from December 2010. The ISU wanted to have the ban run until October 2012 but CAS ruled that the suspension came into effect in December 2010, allowing him to return to competition in June 2012. (sport.fr, 27 Jun 2012; gazetteinfo.fr, 14 Jun 2012; bourgogne.france23.fr, 22 Oct 2011; ffsg.org, 21 Oct 2011)

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Hero / Idol	French short track skater Maxime Chataignier, Equatorial Guinean swimmer Eric 'The Eel' Moussambani, French speed skater Pascal Briand. (Athlete, 13 Jan 2017)
Hobbies	Mountaineering. (passionpvss.blogspot.com, 07 Aug 2018)
Other sports	He has represented France in roller speed skating, finishing 15th in the road marathon at the 2017 World Cup event in Dijon France. (SportsDeskOnline, 16 Oct 2017; rollerenligne.com, 13 Jun 2017)
Most influential person in career	His father, and his first coach Christian Liabot. (passionpvss.blogspot.com, 07 Aug 2018; francebleu.fr, 08 Feb 2018)
Sporting philosophy / motto	"It's important to never forget where you're from while you keep going forward. Sometimes we become robots, going through the motion. When you start being a robot, your results will start to go down." (passionpvss.blogspot.com, 07 Aug 2018)