Beau Martin. Still". Simon Fourcade on Champion Brother, Russian Girl and Domestic Violence. Martin Fourcade (Martin Fourcade) biathlete biography, photo, personal life and his girlfriend

Thanks to the beautiful Sveta, we have a translation of an article about the origin of the Fourcade family. Enjoy!

Roots of the Fourcade family

What will the still unexplored genealogical tree of our Olympic champion reveal to us?

We find its roots in southern France, in Catalonia, where the brothers Fourcade, Martin and Simon, born in Seure, grew up and took their first steps on skis. Their father, Marcel, was the mayor of the Pyrenean village of Llagon, in the Eastern Pyrenees, near the Spanish border. The highest point of this area is located at an altitude of 2196 m.

Looking deeper into the family tree of the Fourcade family, we do not find anything that could dispose him to skiing. And in fact, the landscapes of the ancestors do not reveal any peaks or snow ... On the contrary, these are plains flooded with sun and covered with vineyards. For two centuries, the Fourcades failed to descend more than 150 meters, from 180 to 20 meters, as a result of slow migration.

180 meters is the height of the village where they come from: Vantenac-Cabardes, near Carcassonne. Since 1680, their oldest ancestor known to us has settled in this village. Jean-Louis Fourcade was born around 1650 and may have come from a region to the east. Having established themselves well in Vantenac, his descendants settled there for quite a long time, as classic "masters", marrying girls from neighboring villages. From about 1830, they began to cultivate the land, as well as the vineyards of Lavalette, where they would later become managers of large wineries.

The "Great Migration" will take place during the time of Jean Fourcade, who was born in 1840. He became a "business agent" and then ran the large Lesagna estate before leaving Aude with his wife Marguerite Bergé (from a blacksmith's family around Montpellier).

The couple settled in 1870 in Roussillon, not far from Perpignan and the sea, in the community of Montesco. This is where Jean will be elected mayor several times, and this is where the family really takes its roots. It is safe to say that if Vantenac is their genealogical cradle, then Montesco is undoubtedly their emotional cradle. It is there that the family has its own plot in the cemetery, where the graves of members of this family are still preserved, where Jean, the former mayor, and another Jean, his son, the owner of a lemonade factory, who died in 1910, are buried. He served in Algiers in a cavalry regiment - very far from his descendants, the "Alpine shooters" ...

Most of the champion's roots are concentrated in and around Montesco, but some of his ancestors came from Spanish Catalonia in the late 17th century. His pedigree includes the Anglade branch, butchers from Argeles, and many others. Some of them come from Estair, others from Aiglay or Prat de Moyo (2693 metres) and close by is Llagon, where the champion will grow...

Going down the genealogical tree into the depths of the centuries, we see many branches, such as Bokay and Riebel, as well as the modest Prat de Moyo herdsman Pierre Tubert (born around 1760) ... As we can see, the Fourcade family is connected by family ties not only with the Fourcade (paternal) and Vila (maternal) branches, but also with many families of the area, and they also influenced the fate of our new national star.

Photo: Montescot commune

Translation: Svetlana Rempen

“A slob, a womanizer, a party-goer” - it’s about as pleasant to explain why Simon Fourcade, unlike his younger brother Martin, has not yet won a single personal race in his career ..

"WE ARE NOT ALGERIANS"

- They say that your parents are Algerian immigrants.

Is it because of skin color? Simon says through laughter. Unshaven, at this moment he looks more like not an Algerian, but like a typical owner of Moscow markets. - Martin and I became more or less popular in France only after the Olympics in Sochi, so the native press also liked to find out where such dark-skinned guys came from. I answer again: there is definitely nothing African in us. Ancestors are Spaniards.

- You were born in Perpignan, near Barcelona.

Yes, two hours drive. In Perpignan, by the way, many still consider themselves not French, not Spaniards, but Catalans. But I try not to fool around with it. The country I represent is mine. The rest is not so important.

- What do your parents do?

- Mom teaches children to speak correctly, she is a speech therapist. Dad organizes excursions in the middle mountains. As a child, I played hockey, figure skating, and got into biathlon closer to 15 years old. Thanks to the family: we often went skiing: cool nature, freedom, skiing - that's how I chose my sport.

- Did it work right away?

Endurance has always been great: cycling, swimming - I always chose "horse" sports and trudged from them. In skiing, I began to win quickly - I trained all day long, so I abruptly reached a new level. When I found out at the age of 19 that I was qualifying for the World Cup, I cried with happiness. It seemed that I would tear everyone, there was no other choice and no goals.

- But everything was not so simple. There are no personal victories after 10 years.

Yes. And to realize that you are not the best was very hard. It got even worse when my brother started to overtake me.

"I WAS AN IDOL FOR MARTEN"

- Why did Marten suddenly become stronger?

First, I love him very much. We are friendly guys, we are still fooling around, fighting.

- Who wins?

I'm definitely here. Both then and now. But this is all a joke, of course. Never professional martial arts.

- Let's get back to biathlon.

Marten himself said that I was his idol. After all, he is four years younger and learned everything from me, repeated, asked, imitated. But in one moment it became faster. It's hard to say why. Maybe he learned from my mistakes. Maybe nature helped - he is taller, his arms are longer. It hurt a lot - how, is this kid faster than me? But at some point I relaxed: I was not ashamed to rejoice in other people's victories, because they became ours. Now I did not hesitate to ask: how does Marten manage to pass this or that part of the distance, why does he recover so quickly.

- When Marten won the gold of the Olympics in Sochi, you cried. At the World Cup, too. What was it?

Tears of happiness. Sincere happiness. When there is no envy, when you have experienced it, overcome it, life is much better.

- You are 30, the age of choice: to finish or continue?

I do not have enough victories, I know how to become better and I will do everything for this. The goal, like many others, is the 2018 Olympics.

"WIERER IS THE SEXIEST BUT WE DID NOT HAVE ANYTHING"

- They say that your problem is not only in natural data, they say, you really like parties.

I don't think anyone has seen me drunk or hanging out in a club like crazy. Yes, maybe I'm not as calm as Marten, but I train no less than the rest, I follow the regime. I think these are questions of comparison: it’s just that my brother has an iron nervous system, against his background I look a little relaxed.

- Have you heard who Dorothea Wierer called the sexiest biathlete?

Dorothea, firstly, is the sexiest biathlete.

- Everyone saw that it was with her that you danced at parties.

Nothing, just friendship. Both she and I have lovers. Dorothea is getting married at the end of spring, everything is fine with me too.

- A few years ago you met with a Russian girl Anastasia Spirina.

We met during commercial launches in Kamchatka. One conversation was enough to understand: Nastya is my man. She came to France for Christmas, we corresponded. But, you know, it’s hard to be together and keep feelings when there are more than 10 thousand kilometers between you.

- Have you broken up?

Now I have another girl. She is from France.

- It's nice, if we talk about the interest of girls, that you take revenge on your brother for biathlon?

I've always been popular, yes. Marten is not bothered by this: his girlfriend is expecting a baby - he doesn’t need more.

“BEST FRENCH FOOTBALL PLAYER? IBRA!

- Are you and Martin popular in France?

More like Martin. He is a smart boy. He studied well at school, writes columns for Parisian magazines. But, of course, both of us began to be recognized more often, to offer contracts.

- In Russia, biathlon is almost more popular than football.

So I will say: in Russia, Martin and I are still more popular than in France. Thanks for your TV. It is impossible to imagine that our central channel broadcast biathlon. In France everything is subordinated to football.

- Who is your favorite player?

My favorite French football player - Zlatan Ibrahimovic… Well, I know that he is Swedish. But when you see these goals, this character, these emotions – how can you like something else?

- Favorite club - PSG?

Only Barça! You forget, I was still born in Catalonia. Two hours - and you are at the match of the best team in the world. True, it is very rare to get out.

- What is the phenomenon of French sport?

What do you mean?

The biathlete is the best in the world. Football youth and junior teams are great. Basketball is growing, and so is hockey. Even in track and field sprints, your white guys are somewhere near Bolt.

It is, I'm glad to hear it.

- There is a version that some kind of pill or system was invented in France, which WADA has not yet recognized.

It's funny to hear, - Fourcade changes his smile to a grin. - It's just ridiculous that such a thing could come to someone's mind. Even more stupid are someone's statements that, they say, everything is accepted and doping should be legalized. Rave! We are clean athletes and will never accept those who are dishonest. This is my principle, Marten's principle - and we will never leave this path.

The future biathlete was born on September 14, 1988 in the French town of Sere. His parents were fond of sports, in particular skiing. Therefore, the boy was sent to the sports section very early. True, it was another winter sport - hockey.

Marten has an older brother, Simon, who also began to play hockey. But their father had no time to take the boys to classes, since the ice arena was located far enough away. For this reason, Marten and Simon signed up for the ski section, and then moved to biathlon together.

Both brothers began to seriously engage in biathlon and soon made it to the French team. Simon did it much earlier. As for Marten, he was included in the number of collections in 2006.

The next season, Marten took part in the junior world championship and won a bronze medal.

Since 2008, Fourcade began to participate in the World Cup. His first race ended in failure. He occupied the last places. But the young athlete did not despair and continued to train hard.

At the 2010 Olympics, Marten unexpectedly won silver in one of the races. Then it was considered a coincidence. But a year later, Fourcade began to win victories in the World Cup and eventually took third place in the overall standings. And in 2012, he generally climbed to the first line in the world ranking of the World Cup. From that moment on, Marten began to be considered the successor of the great Norwegian Bjoerndalen.

Fourcade continued to train hard and improve his results. In some races, the athlete won, even if he missed the shooting range more than twice. He leveled out bad shooting with fast skiing.

In 2013, Marten wins several victories at the World Championships and again takes first place in the final standings of the World Cup. From that moment on, this trophy is registered with the French biathlete for the next five seasons.

In addition to this title, Fourcade wins gold five times at the Olympics in Sochi in 2014 and Pyeongchang in 2018. Also, the French biathlete 11 times rises to the top step of the podium at the world championships. No one can cope with this high-speed biathlete. Even the great Norwegians with the whole team capitulate to one Fourcade.

Now Marten has already set many records in the biathlon world, but he is not going to stop there. Soon the new season of this winter sport will start, in which the great Frenchman will again be the main character.

Fourcade's personal life

Marten leads a rather closed life and very rarely reports any news about his family. Fourcade has been living in a civil marriage for many years with an ordinary school teacher from France, Helen. The girl tries to support Marten in her free time at competitions. In 2015, the couple had their first child, daughter Manon. And two years later, his wife Helen gave birth to another daughter, Ines. Marten loves his family very much and tries to spend all his free time with them.

The early years, childhood and the family of biathlete Martin Fourcade

It is noteworthy that Marten never hid the fact that the sports careers of other members of his family had a great influence on his sports career. At the time when Fourcade Jr. took his first steps in the world of professional sports, his brother Simon was already storming the podiums of major international competitions with might and main. For a long time, Marten was his number one fan. But, in the end, he decided to seriously engage in biathlon himself.

The first successes came to the athlete very soon. After a series of successful performances at youth and junior competitions, Martin Fourcade made his way into the French national team, in the ranks of which he began to play since 2002. At that moment, the young athlete was only fourteen years old.

Christoph Sumann and Martin Fourcade sing at the award ceremony

Martin Fourcade grew and improved, and therefore, four years later, he managed to successfully make his debut at international youth competitions. At first, the results of the athlete were not the highest. In 2007, our today's hero managed to win bronze in the relay race, but subsequently Marten invariably found himself outside the coveted pedestal. As a rule, he completed his performance among the 10 strongest. But this ambitious athlete was not enough.

Biathlete Martin Fourcade in big sport

The very next season, Marten improved quite well and eventually managed to win the first ranking points in the German Hochfilzen, finishing thirty-sixth in the individual race and reaching the top ten in the sprint. After that, the young Frenchman also performed brilliantly at the World Championships, in which he consistently ranked among the twenty strongest athletes in each race.

Facial expression of Martin Fourcade

Thanks to this, in the overall standings of the 2009 season, Martin Fourcade managed to take the final 24th place, which was an undoubted success for the young guy. The next year was even more successful. The talented Frenchman took another step up, and therefore soon managed to win his first medals. As part of the Vancouver 2010 Olympics, Fourcade got to the second final place in the mass start (15 km). The silver medal was a real surprise for all fans of the biathlete, but later our today's hero successfully proved that all this was by no means a simple coincidence.

At the World Championships in Kontiolahti, Finland, the talented Frenchman won a gold medal in the pursuit, and then managed to win two victories in Oslo, Norway (in the pursuit and sprint). As a result of all this, in the 2009/2010 season, the athlete became the fifth in the overall standings of the World Cup. He began to be called one of the most promising biathletes on the planet. Martin Fourcade began to be offered lucrative advertising contracts, and also often invited to French television. As a result, already at the age of twenty-one, a talented athlete became the main hope of the French team.

In the 2010/2011 season, the biathlete won several more bright victories. Among these, the most impressive achievement was the full set of awards (gold, silver and bronze) at the World Championships in Russian Khanty-Mansiysk. These, as well as some other achievements, allowed Martin Fourcade for the first time in his career to enter the top three biathletes in the overall World Cup standings. At that moment, it became clear to everyone that the talented Frenchman came to the world of biathlon in earnest and for a long time. And a year later, Marten successfully proved the truth of these words.

At the next World Championships in Ruhpolding, Germany, Martin Fourcade won three sets of gold medals. As a result, in that season, our today's hero managed for the first time in his career to lead the overall World Cup standings. Having removed the Norwegian Ole Einar Bjorndalen from the throne, the Frenchman has firmly established himself as the main favorite of any race. Subsequently, Martin Fourcade repeatedly proved that he is one of the best biathletes of his generation.

Martin Fourcade at present

Personal life of Martin Fourcade

Name:
Martin Fourcade

Zodiac sign:
Virgo

Place of Birth:
Seret, France

Activity:
biathlete

The weight:
75 kg

Growth:
185 cm

Biography of Martin Fourcade

The early years, childhood and the family of biathlete Martin Fourcade

Biathlete Martin Fourcade in big sport

Martin Fourcade at present

Personal life of Martin Fourcade