Written by Trackandmemes, January 5, 2022
My name is Mélanie Bovy, I am 22 years old and I have been doing athletics since I was 6 or 7 years old. I started to train in a regional club when I was little, and there they immediately noticed that I had potential so they encouraged me to continue with athletics and to compete. I was mostly doing cross-country. Then, when I was 13/14 years old, I changed clubs and came to the White Star Athletic Club. I needed a bigger club with more facilities. I already had a particular interest in long distance running, and when I came to White I continued that. I was redirected to François Clais who is a long distance and middle distance runner. The first few years, everything went well. I made enormous progress with him. Unfortunately, the little hurts came; I started to get injured... I stayed injured from the age of 15 to 17. I was injured from the age of 15 to 17. I had stress fractures... It healed, but I started again too early or too fast... But then, little by little, it was okay. Now I train in Leuven with Rick Diden. I train a lot, and in a group with top athletes, which encourages me a lot. In reality, everything has changed. I spread my studies (currently my Master) over three years instead of two. I really live by athletics on a daily basis. Everything is done according to my training. I practice my sport more or less every day in Leuven, and everything has become even more serious to me, especially with the infrastructure around.
I kind of feel like you were born on a podium. You'd have to be blind to ignore your potential. What would be your wildest dream?
My wildest dream would be to do more international competitions and make it to the Olympics; every athlete's dream. I'm going to give myself the means to try everything and get there. I don't want to say to myself that it's just a dream in the corner of my head, I will try to do as many international competitions as possible. I will continue on this line and I will see where it will lead me.
Gold medal in cross country during the 2020 indoor season. Was it a surprise for you or were you expecting it?
It was a surprise because we had a Covid year just before, so we didn't know how to compete. It had been a long time since we had done any competitions, especially the cross country ones. My first competition was the Belgian Championships. I knew that I had trained the year before, because during the pandemic I was still training every day. Other than having access to a gym that had been restricted, I knew I had done what I needed to do to progress. I knew I was trained, but I didn't know where the competition was. But everything went well, I gained hope! I was really happy.
How did you manage to keep up with the health crisis?
Running is running. We used to train a lot in the woods. In winter, that's what we usually do. It's a lot of hard work. Training in the woods is something we've always been able to do. What was more complicated was access to a weight room, so those exercises were limited to what I had in my garage; a medicine ball, a swiss ball, elastic... It's not much, but I made do with what I had. I knew how to train outside, in the forest, so that allowed me to continue training. Mentally, the competitions were cancelled one by one. It was a blow every time a competition was cancelled, but you knew they would come back at some point. I tried to keep motivated like that. My coach would tell us not to get caught up in something we had no control over. He would tell us to just do the best we could, because the races were going to come around again. Thankfully, that dark period is finally over.
What is the hardest session for you? And what is your favorite session?
These are often the track sessions when preparing for summer competitions, the specific sessions. A session of "10×1,000 meters" at a 10,000m pace or "6×1,000m" at a 5,000m pace with 2 minutes recovery. That stings a bit.
As far as sessions go, I love them all. I love working out. As soon as I run, I'm happy. Whether it's a short jog or a progressive jog, a long run or an interval on the track, even the little wake-up call over six kilometers, I love it as much as a big session.
What is your relationship with your coach and do you think this relationship influences your performance?
As I said, I changed coaches last year. And it was with Rick Diden that I made a big improvement. He's really good and he's got me figured out. He's getting to know me as an athlete. He knows what I need to hear and what I need to do. He has gotten to know me well. Frankly, we get along well. He's there all the time at practice. He does a lot of feedback as well, and I do the same for my part. It's helped us to get to know each other well. Of course, I think it influences the performance because I trust him blindly. He always took the time to explain to me why he put me in such a session or such a week of training... I saw that I progressed last year, so it reinforces this confidence. He knows my goals as an athlete and I think the most important thing in the coach/athlete relationship is trust.
Sprinters are often told not to think too much when they run. But long distance running is completely different. What do you think about in training and during a competition?
It depends on the session. If it's a recovery run, I'll think about a lot of mundane things. The more intensive the sessions become, the more I suffer and at that point there is less and less going on in my head. In training, I try to condition myself for the competition. I know what goes on in my head when I'm at a competition, so in training, when I feel myself starting to suffer, I try to simulate what would happen in a competition so that I know how to react better in these cases. I have a few phrases that allow me to keep my concentration and not to go too far in my thoughts, otherwise I lose the rhythm and I panic... I try to stay in the moment and not to think too much. In fact, when I am in pain, I only think of one thing. That it stops and that it ends... But I guess that's normal.
You chose to pursue your dream by training at White Star Athletic Club, but what charmed you about this family?
White Star is a very dynamic club. It's a great club and a beautiful stadium with a great track. That attracted me. Now they have also restructured the committee so that adds a dynamism and a bit of freshness. I think François Maingain has good ideas and initiatives to motivate the youngsters. The club is organizing more and more meetings. They have renewed the track, they organize training courses... I remember that at the time I was going on training courses, and that was what I loved! Finding joy in training. When you're young, that's what keeps you going in the long run.
What are your goals for the upcoming season?
The Cross CUP! Last year we didn't have one, but this year I hope they will be organized. There are also the European Cross Championships, which is one of the things I've been dreaming about since I was little. I'd like to place as high as possible in all the cross-country events.
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