CANDASSAMY Marie-Florence

Personal Information

Residence Paris, FRA

Occupation Athlete

Languages English, French

License number 26021991002

Club

Upcoming Events

Sport Specific Information

When and where did you begin this sport? She began fencing at age seven.

Why this sport? Her father competed in fencing at international level. She initially took up foil but her coach encouraged her to switch to epee. "He understood foil was not for me and very quickly he switched me to epee because I had this reflex of stretching my arm, which is a typical epee movement."

Club / Team Paris Universite Club: France

Name of coach Herve Faget [national]

Training Regime She trains full-time, including at her club and the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance [INSEP] in Paris, France. "I'm lucky because I can live off fencing, which not all fencers can do. Thanks to aid from my club and national federation, I can commit myself completely for my training and preparation [for the 2024 Olympic Games]."

Handedness Right

General Interest

Nicknames Mariflo, MF (NOC Media Guide, 2016)

Hobbies Cinema, drawing, music, going to restaurants. (la1ere.francetvinfo.fr, 07 Aug 2023; marieflorencecandassamy.com, 13 Jan 2020)

Memorable sporting achievement Winning an individual epee world championship title in 2023. (Instagram profile, 28 Jul 2023)

Hero / Idol French fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic, French sprinter Marie-Jose Perec. (marieflorencecandassamy.com, 13 Jan 2020)

Sporting philosophy / motto "One of my favorite expressions is, 'You have to give time to time'. As an athlete, I'm very intuitive, but this quality can prove to be a flaw when it is not framed by patience. So, I learned to make time my best ally to achieve my goals. I got to know myself and trust my instincts, which have been sharpened over the years in the arena. I got to know my body and trust my physical abilities, developed through hard work over the years in training. I also observe a lot of what is going on around me - including watching my opponents fence - in order to analyse the situation before me. This allows me to learn more about myself with the sole objective of climbing the ladder, while giving me the freedom to evolve and grow." (marieflorencecandassamy.com, 13 Jan 2020)

Milestones She became the oldest female French fencer to win an individual world championship title with any weapon when she claimed gold in epee at the 2023 World Championships in Milan, Italy, at age 32 years and 149 days. (SportsDeskOnline, 01 Apr 2024)

Famous relatives Her father has fenced at international level. (gm-sponsoring.com, 01 Sep 2020)

Ambitions To win a gold medal at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (gm-sponsoring.com, 01 Sep 2020; marieflorencecandassamy.com, 13 Jan 2020)

Other information DEFENDING WORLD CHAMP AT PARIS 2024
She will be the defending individual epee world champion at the 2024 Olympic Games, but says she does not feel any additional pressure from the title or her progression to the world number one ranking in 2023. "It won't give me any extra pressure. It's a nice feeling, I hope there will be more like it. As I often say, pressure is put on by other people." She won her world title at age 32. "There is no age limit for success. I think success takes time to build, and this world title happened when it was meant to for me. Anyway, nowadays fencers are ending their careers later and later, and we have good physical conditioning coaches too. The race to the [2024] Olympics continues, the world championships having been part of that race. The logical thing for me to do now is keep working." She did not compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, but did take part in the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. "[Rio] was an intense experience. I learnt about myself, the support of my close ones helped a lot. The 2016 Games taught me to continually question myself in order to keep innovating, and above all to never give up." (la1ere.francetvinfo.fr, 07 Aug 2023)

HERITAGE
She grew up in Paris in mainland France but her father is from Martinique and her mother is from Guadeloupe, which are both overseas French territories. "I grew up in the Paris region but due to my parents I was immersed in the culture of my Afro-Caribbean origins. For me, it's a culture of infinite beauty from culinary to music - including outspokenness. It remains very present in my daily life and is important to me." (gm-sponsoring.com, 01 Sep 2020; marieflorencecandassamy.com, 13 Jan 2020)

OCCUPATION
She has worked as a sports teacher at Paris Universite Club. She has a French state diploma [Master of Arms] in fencing, which she studied for between 2017 and 2018. (allyteams.com, 01 Sep 2020)