| Who is Marion Clignet and why is she bringing French journalists to Rwanda??? |
 Marion Clignet and Tom Ritchey meet up in Spain In 1990, Marion Clignet moved from the United States, where she was born in Hyde Park, Illinois, to France, the home of her parents. Since then she has represented France internationally bringing home six world titles, two Olympic medals, and numerous French National titles. Yet she is still referred to as the ‘American’ on the team. Marion has fought many battles in her life, from epilepsy and inflammatory arthritis to the narrow mindedness of Cycling Federations. She has been working hard to lift the profile of women’s sport and now finds that Cycling itself, the sport she loves most, is under constant attack. Over the past nine years all we've heard on the French TV, radio, print is cycling means drugs, and how can an American (meaning Lance,etc) come in and just win everything, blah, blah,..I’ve gotten into more debates with the French about training ethics, working ethics, etc and at the end of the day I was really starting to get cynical about the French, their attitude on cycling, and where my favorite past time was heading. This year seemed to be hitting an all time high when before the tour the French journalists were accusing anyone and everyone of drugs. I seemed to be feeling more and more cynical towards the French and in particular the French cycling authorities. France and the media in general has stayed away from Rwanda since the genocide. By bringing French journalists to Rwanda, Marion will not only open people's eyes to the positive things that cycling and the cycling community has to offer, but also a country filled with stories of reconciliation and healing. A country ready to start anew. Marion's Story
I came to France in 1991 to race for the French national cycling team after being refused a spot on the United States Worlds team time trial team heading to worlds in 1990. I had just taken a gold, silver, and bronze in the three road events proposed at the National cycling championships in Albany New York (Our neophyte team beat the US national team in the TTT, I took a bronze in the Individual TT, and on a fairly challenging road course I initiated a break with Ruthie Matthis (former Team Ritchey rider!) and we covered over 45kms together before she dropped me with 1km to go leaving me with a silver).
When Rinus Verboom, the US women's coach at the time called out the names of the riders on the long team and my name was not on the list I asked Rinus if there was an error and he simply told me that because I have epilepsy I could be a risk to the team. I swallowed hard, repeated at least 20 times in my own mind, “Don't hit him, Marion, keep your cool, don't hit him, Marion...etc” before thinking to myself “well, hell's bells! I have 2 passports so why don't i just do what I've always said I'd do anyway!”.....My parents and entire family are French born and raised and my father's work as a sociologist is what brought them to Chicago in 1963 before I was born. I sauntered out in 1964 and grew up in Evanston, Illinois. In 1980 we moved to Maryland so I finished high school there and attended college at the University of Maryland in College Park. One fine day at the age of 22 for a still unexplained reason today, I just fell over and had a grand mal seizure... people were looking at me as I woke up lying on a floor asking me if I was ok....I scanned the faces and didn't recognize any of them and someone asked me where I lived. 'no idea', I answered but I'm sure I'll figure it out. I was a bit miffed at what was going on.
“Well, what's your name?” someone else asked.... My decision was to take up an offer made to me that summer after winning a stage at the women's Tour of Idaho from two French riders who knew I had dual citizenship. They said I could come and ride with them anytime in France. So, instead of hitting the US team coach in the face for telling me I could be a 'risk' I said 'your loss mate', and went to the nearest pay phone. 3 calls later I'm on my way to France, Brittany to be exact to race for a club team in Lorient. I had a superb end of season and the French national team director
offered me a spot on the national team for the following season which
included a selection for the Barcelona Olympic Games! My Olympic dream,
epileptic or not, was going to happen! from here I'll shorten the story
(I've written a book to promote research on epilepsy that tells all
of this story-it's called Tenacious and is available in English on
line www.epilepsie-fondation.fr I retired from racing in 2004 and worked for a short while as director
sportif of the New Zealand national team which was great fun though
very little budget and I didn't have enough say in the program that
needed a bit of change in order for the team to move forward. For the
last two years I've worked as director sportif and coach of a French
men's elite 2 team who wanted to move up to elite 1. I've coached several
of their riders who have moved up to elite 1 but the club itself doesn't
have the budget to move up to elite 1 and I can't do volunteer work
for them. 2007 has been a particular year. For women to race in France,
the country that organizes the largest bike race in the world yet does
absolutely nothing for women in the sport, this is one tough world.
I spent over 70% of each season sorting out sponsors, budgets, logistics,etc Learn More About Marion Here »  |
|||||
| < Prev | Next > |
|---|