BUTRUILLE Solene

Personal Information

Residence Paris, FRA

Occupation Armed Forces Athlete, Student

Languages English, French

Higher education Medicine - Paris Descartes University: France

License number 02111997000

Club

Upcoming Events

Sport Specific Information

When and where did you begin this sport? She began fencing at age seven under coach Jean-Noel Ferrari at the OGC Nice club in France.

Why this sport? "I had an older brother who did fencing, and I followed him because I wanted to do everything like him. I didn't like it at all during four years, but my parents told me each year that if I started the year, I had to finish it. I had friends there, so I continued, and after four years I started to like it and get results, so I continued. Until the age of 11 I was really bad, I'd finish every competition in tears, but I kept going. I think I didn't understand the sport, which is very complicated, and nobody really explained it to me. One day I switched from foil to sabre and it just clicked. So they asked me if I wanted to stay on sabre or go back to foil. I ended up going back to foil, and from that point on I started to do well at competitions, I was no longer last, so I started training a lot and I started to win."

Club / Team OGC Nice: France

Training Regime She lives and trains in Paris, France, but returns to her hometown of Nice, France, at least once a month. "It's really important for me to always be connected to the club of my heart, OGC Nice. I regularly call my fencing masters there, and I try to come home at least once a month. It's good to keep in touch and, in a way, it cultivates my fencing style as well. In fact, it's a different vision of fencing [in Nice] - it's less academic, more based on instinct and feeling. It's less square, less conventional. But first and foremost it's about the pleasure of sport, which always takes precedence. In any case, that's what coach Jean-Noel [Ferrari] taught me from the start."

Handedness Right

General Interest

Most influential person in career Coach Jean-Noel Ferrari. (nicematin.com, 16 Nov 2020)

Injuries In early 2021 she recovered from a broken ankle, which saw her spend five weeks in a plaster cast. (Instagram profile, 01 Feb 2021; nicematin.com, 16 Nov 2020)

During the 2015/16 season she suffered a serious ankle injury. (nicematin.com, 26 Jun 2017)

Ambitions To compete at the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. (u-paris.fr, 01 Feb 2024)

Other information STUDYING MEDICINE
In 2024 she was in her fifth year of studying medicine. "There's not a lot of people who do that [study medicine and fence]. People told me that I could never be a high-level athlete because of my choice of studies. Whenever results didn't go my way, people would blame it on my studies. My parents and my older brother have supported me a lot. It's hard to find people who understand. I know in other countries, like Italy and America, there are fencers who study medicine and have won titles. I've spoken with them and it's nice to find people who understand the difficulties. Medicine has been there when fencing has not, and sometimes it's an escape for me in difficult moments. However, both are very competitive." (u-paris.fr, 01 Feb 2024; lesechos.fr, 12 Jan 2024; whatsupdoc-lemag.fr, 30 Nov 2023)

OLYMPIC REPLACEMENT IN TOKYO
She was selected as a replacement athlete for the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo. She travelled to Japan, but did not take part in the competition, which she said was a difficult experience. "Tokyo was an objective at the time, I was part of the team in 2019 but even though I think I deserved to be part of the team and had the results required, the coaches didn't select me [to compete], they chose someone with more experience. It was hard. I think I could have done more to put myself forward, but I was a bit too young and a bit too reserved. [Being a reserve] was horrible. I was angry at the whole world. I went to Japan, but not to the Athlete Village. It felt like an injustice for me. I was a training partner for the girls who did compete, and it was hard. I do not want to experience that again for Paris [2024]." (whatsupdoc-lemag.fr, 30 Nov 2023)