Portrait of Jean-Louis Esnault - ESB 28

Every month we give a voice to ESB alumni. It's an additional insight for those who are currently training at the school. This month, after a lively exchange with Jean-Louis Esnault, we thought it was important to present it to you. In 2015, our ESB 28 was already making headlines, as in Ouest-France, with its European indoor records in Nantes, over 800 m and 3000 m, the latter of which it still holds. (link to free article or read below)

Jean-Louis Esnault, the inexhaustible ambitious

National Veterans Indoor Championships. A phenomenon, a machine, a lord... The qualifiers rain down to describe the immense Jean-Louis Esnault. At seventy-five, Jean-Louis Esnault set two new European records.

The man deserves great respect. Jean-Louis Esnault is an immense athlete. At the first-ever veterans' competition in Pierre-Quinon this weekend, he didn't go unnoticed. At seventy-five, he's quite a phenomenon.

With no real competition in France, he runs for pleasure, without forgetting to proudly add his name to the new French and European benchmarks. " Now that I've moved up a category, I'm going for all the records," he asserts, still smiling despite three kilometers in his legs. Fifteen laps of the track and a record time that would make even a young glory-seeker gag.

Jean-Louis Esnault lives with fame. Better still, he could hardly care less. Always humble and available, he never tires of telling his story, across the continents. "I ran marathons in New York, Rio, where my son was an expatriate, and Budapest. Sixty marathons in all, and only one withdrawal." From 400 m to long distance, Jean-Louis Esnault can do it all, anywhere. "I'll be going to the indoor Europeans in Poland in three weeks' time. As for marathons, I'd like to do Perth (Australia), Beijing and Berlin.

And incredible as it may seem, because of his age, he has never stopped maintaining himself. "In 1971, I had an accident where my arm was crushed. So I was quiet for eight months, without being able to run." His only real downtime. And at the finish this Saturday, the public gave him a standing ovation, the announcer went wild and CNV member Jean-Claude Deremy concluded. "He's a phenomenon, a machine..."