PROFILE

DENIS, 2011 WORLD C1 CHAMPION

Born in Marseille, Denis Gargaud-Chanut’s first love was soccer. «From the age of 10 to 13, I played right wing for the Septem club where Zinedine Zidane’s first football licence is on display. One day, while on holiday with my aunt in Orleans, I discovered her canoe-kayak club…»

His cousins encouraged him to forsake the wall against which he kicked his football and set off down the River Loire in a canoe. «I spent all my time with my head under water, but I loved it…»

CANOE NOT KAYAK

Back in Marseille, Denis, «on the advice of my aunt», looks up the legendary «Bébert», Albert TOBELEM, president of the canoe-kayak club and father of Myriam (1996 Olympic kayak bronze medalist): «From that day on, he hardly let me out of his sight. At the time, everyone did kayak in Marseille. Me, I wanted to do canoe… and I dug my feet in!!!» Five years later in 2005, he’s European junior champion. «This guy’s powered by batteries, like Energizer,» says Fabien, the admiring older half of the duo, in a reference to the indefatigable bunny in the battery ads in the United States. Since 2004, Denis has lived in Pau with its training center which plays host to the cream of whitewater racing! He was just 17 when he moved, but he remains a licensed member of Marseille Mazargues, the «club for which I’d like to win one or two medals in London in 2012…»

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DENIS, A SNAPSHOT…

Born July 22nd 1987 – He bears the family names of his mother (Gargaud), who runs an old people’s home in Marseille, and of his father (Chanut), a doctor in Montpellier – He comes from the Saint-Henri district at the foot of Zidane’s inner-city stamping ground – Before the 2012 Olympic challenge, he had never set foot in a double canoe – In 2007, he was vice-champion of France behind Tony Estanguet (Olympic champion in 2000 and 2004) – In 2008, he was vice-champion of France ahead of Tony – He was Tony’s understudy for the 2008 Beijing Olympics when Tony failed in his bid to win an unprecedented third successive gold – In C-1 (single canoe), he finished 7th in the 2009 world championships – In 2010, he won the European U23 C1 title – In 2011, he became World C1 champion – He loves playing poker.

TEAM-MATE FABIEN ON DENIS

«Denis is a fountain of youth ! Wildly enthusiastic without being wild, as carefree as you could wish for, he is very committed. His trainer and I both think in the same way. Denis, despite his tender years, brings us back down to earth, to simple reality. We are complementary.»

TRAINER JEAN-YVES CHEUTIN ON DENIS

«Denis, above all, is someone who is totally reliable: whatever happens, Fabien and I can count on him He’s the ‘hardware’. Fabien is the ‘software’. »

DENIS ON DENIS

«In the middle of this trio, I sometimes feel like I’m the link between Fabien and Jean-Yves. For example, I calm Fabien down when he’s on edge and I explain what Jean-Yves is trying to tell him. I take it upon myself to do this. But I have absolutely no problem with that. It’s a role I like.»

MEMORABLE FIRSTS

FIRST MEETING WITH FABIEN

«It was in 2001, one year after I started in the canoe. Fabien had just become senior champion of France for the first time. A few days earlier, he had just returned from the United States where he’d finished runner-up in the final of the world cup: he was 19-years-old. Me, I was a second-year ‘minime’ (U15) competing in a regional championship. Seeing him win was an eye-opener. I could do that too, couldn’t I?  After his victory, my aunt and cousins introduced me to him. My aunt said to me: ‘You wait and see. He’ll be world champion.’ That meeting left its mark on me. Since then our friendship has grown stronger. Since then, our relationship hasn’t changed a bit. Why? Probably because we were not direct rivals (Fabien is K-1 single kayak and Denis C-1 single canoe)…»

FIRST WORLD CUP

«This was in Prague in 2004 and I finished 7th. My best world cup place is fourth in Tacen in 2008. To this day, I have never climbed onto a world cup podium… with one exception, in double canoe (2^nd in Pau in June 2009)!»

FIRST WORLD CUP PODIUM

«Even if we were second, for me, it was a victory… only beaten by the Slovaks ! It was a fantastic race. At the finish, I had to dig deep! As we crossed the line, I saw we’d beaten our semi-final time by four seconds. I shrieked like a man possessed, a real primal scream. It made some women kayakers who were warming up nearby laugh!!»