Meeting Frédéric and Pierre Gousset

As my faithful readers have certainly noticed I am a great fan of the blog Décapassion. It is quite often a source of inspiration for me, with articles both technical and historical, to say nothing of the excellent analyses.

The blog (and the accompanying facebook page) are created by Frédéric and Pierre Gousset (father and son), two great decathlon fans. Frédéric is the author of what is probably the best book ever written on the decathlon and its heroes: Des hommes complets - la formidable histoire du pentathlon et du décathlon à travers les âges. If you can read french (even if your french is a little bit rusty) and you are a decathlon fan, the book will become your bedside book.In case you cannot find the book, try contacting directly the author (see where to find an email below).

I was planning to contact the Goussets, like, forever. But I kept postponing that since I did not have an easy way to do it. Until, one day, I discovered that the email address of Pierre was given in the clear in their facebook page. So, no more excuses, I sent immediately an email and I got an answer the very same day. Living in the same city it was very easy to meet. So we set up a meeting in a parisian café and I got to spend two most enjoyable hours in the company of Frédéric and Pierre Gousset.

My initial idea was that of an interview. But once the discussion started, it became clear that something formal was out of the question. We discovered that, when it comes to athletics, we were kindred spirits. We talked about all the matters that interest both of us: combined events (obviously) and in particular women's decathlon, scoring tables, hyperandrogenism, the coming Olympics and the fact that one has to pay upwards of 1000 euros in order to attend the two days of the decathlon. (Don't get me started on the Olympics. This is supposed to be a write-up of a very positive experience, my so nice meeting with the Goussets. So I will close this parenthesis, lest the simple mention of Olympics spoil my mood). 

One thing is clear: that was not the last meeting we are going to have with Frédéric and Pierre. Their article on how the scoring table should be modified had already spurred my interest. Will it be the kindling for a future collaboration (like the one I had with G. Purdy)? Time will tell. 

PS I was planning to post something on our meeting this week-end. Well, they beat me to the line. They already published an article in their facebook page.