Written by Trackandmemes, March 8 2023
If I tell you about a Belgian who is both an athlete and a YouTuber, do you get it? And if I add the function of videographer and video editor, you see where I'm going? Yes, Gaëtan Chiroux is our Belgian athlete who has been able to attract a lot of attention with his qualitative creations.
We had already met him once in the Magazine, mainly as an athlete after a remarkable winter progression. But today, let's discover him in all his facets, through five questions.
What are your sporting goals?
I don't want to leave anything to chance. An athlete's career is much too short to have regrets. I don't want to quit athletics and say that I could have given more, that I could have done better, or that I should have made this or that sacrifice. I want to give my best every season, every competition, every training session. I will see where my mindset will lead me. As Steve Prefontaine said "to give anything less than your best is to sacrifice the gift”.
More concretely, I would like to be able to wear the Belgian jersey during a big championship, like many passionate athletes. Going with the delegation has always been an ideal for me, and I'm doing everything I can to get there one day. I would be sad not to achieve this feat, but there will be no disappointment if I know deep down that I have done everything I could to try to get there. The will and the work are there. Let's see how it goes.
My goal for this year would be to break my records in the 200m and 400m. Reaching 48 seconds in the 400m would already be a great performance.
And for this year, do you have any professional goals?
The year is starting really well for me, from a professional point of view. I launched my own video production company, "La Capsule". The goal will be to create bigger and bigger projects, more and more ambitious. In fact, I would like to make things evolve within Belgian athletics. My goal has always been to put our sport forward.
I have projects in the works, including my YouTube channel dedicated to athletics. This year I would like to be even more active in the media coverage of our sport and our champions. Whether it be through Instagram with the real ones I create for some of our athletes, videos or new concepts on YouTube. I would like to be part of the main actors of the highlighting of the Belgian sport and athletes.
I spend a lot of time on it, and I love it. My number one passion is athletics. My number 2 passion is video and editing. What more could you ask for, except to get paid to do it? It's up to me to make myself indispensable so that our Belgian league or brands have no choice but to see me as a key player in this communication, so important nowadays.
And in the long term, what is your vision?
I would like to do nothing else. Talking and practicing athletics, filming and editing videos about athletics. There are many ways to do this, and I'm doing what's necessary to move forward on this path. In the long term, and looking beyond the Belgian scene, which I will always be interested in, I would like to work for WorldAthletics. This would include all the boxes I want to tick: athletics and its greatest references, video and editing, artistic creativity... It would also mean that I could go with the Belgian delegation during its various trips! And by organizing myself, I could clearly continue to train properly.
I would also like to make commercials for big sports brands, in a cinematic style. And short films too.
All in all, I have many ideas, desires and dreams. But I know where I want to go and how to get there. Just like my athletic journey, I don't want to have any regrets. There are awards I'd love to win, whether it's for athletic content creation, YouTube, commercials or short films. I would do anything to get there.
Who is your favorite Belgian athlete?
My team and my coach, but everyone knows that.
I would say without hesitation Christian Iguacel. I have always been impressed by our best athletes, by the delegation, by the athletes who are lucky enough to be able to go to an international meeting under the black yellow red colors. And despite my shyness, Christian was one of the first athletes I could communicate with. First on social networks, through his Instagram stories which are often funny, then on the track during his championships. When you talk to him, you don't get the impression that he knows he's doing 45'' 71 in the 400m or 20'' 90 in the 200m. He keeps it very simple! He works very hard, and has done so for a long time. He really deserves what he gets. It's true that I'm sad and disappointed that he couldn't run at the last European championships, but I think it won't stop there, as far as he's concerned. Technically, Christian is the fastest athlete I know.
What is your favorite goat of all time, and why?
*Goat = the best in his field
Michael Norman. He's way too strong in the 400m and 200m, and he'll probably be strong this year in the 100m too. He's also a workhorse. He's not the kind of athlete who doesn't respect his sleep or eats anything the night before a competition, or even the month before it. He is an example! Like many other professional athletes of course. But he's always on course, both on and off the track, and that keeps him on top of his game.
We can talk about her running technique too. She is impeccable, solid. Her pelvis doesn't rise a hair, her trunk doesn't sway an inch, her arms are perfectly aligned. Nothing is left to chance.
What I particularly like about him is that he never raises his arm or finger before the finish line, even in a landslide victory. He sometimes exults, but always after the race, and above all, without targeting or blaming any particular athlete. Because unfortunately, I see more and more athletes behaving this way and I hate it. It happens mostly on American tracks. Let's be like Michael Norman, and let him "trashtalkto the NBAon parquet and not on tartan.
Finally, the goat is Michael Norman. All of his interviews are very interesting, and his Instagram account is regularly populated with posts that are always very motivating to read or watch.