Sevens forgives nothing, and athletes’ bodies even less. For Stephen Parez, life after the 2024 Olympic title has looked like a full-blown medical marathon. Between two rehab sessions, the France captain looks back on his run of injuries and his undimmed determination to get back out on the pitch.

“I’m at the acceptance stage”

Stephen Parez , how are you? Look, I’m OK, I’m trying to find the positives and some light in the shade. But I’m starting to accept the fact of going back under the knife and starting another post-operative recovery and reconditioning protocol, and so on. So there you go, I’m at the stage of accepting everything that’s happening to me and above all I can’t wait to be back with the team as soon as possible.

The reality of trauma injuries in sevens

There are two things: trauma injuries and groin problems, which we know affect every athlete. But tendons tearing away from the bone, ruptures… What happened? We don’t talk about it often, but these are fairly common injuries in rugby, since we’re very stiff in the upper body. Generally, when you get a big extension through the arm, often in tackles, your arm is dragged right back, almost behind your back with the speed of the opponent… It’s often the pectoralis major tendon that goes. It’s pretty brutal, I’d already done it four years ago. This time I make a tackle, I land on my opponent’s heel with my armpit and I feel the tendon go. It’s something you don’t necessarily operate on if you’re not a professional athlete… You can live with it, no problem, but I’d have lost 60% of my pectoral strength. Over the two years of career I have left, that’s not exactly nothing, especially with the 2028 Olympic objective coming up.

The improbable everyday injury

The protocol? The timeline? I had the operation on the pectoral tendon five weeks ago. And it was while trying to unload the shopping from my trolley at the supermarket that I did my biceps! I tried to protect the pectoral tendon, I used my biceps and at that moment I tore the biceps tendon away… Here we go again… It’s in the same area. It was a slightly heavy microwave. I think I probably hadn’t put much strain on my biceps for more than two months, it was suddenly overloaded and it went. Three weeks in a sling, three more weeks for it to heal, for the tendon to grip the bone.

You live in Marseille, and you had the operation in Paris? As I told you, four years earlier I’d had the operation in Paris, it’s a question of trust.

The mind in the face of a setback

Did you ask yourself questions? Do I carry on? Do I stop? In elite sport, our bodies are pushed to extremes, whether in competition or in training. Sometimes you know you’re really taking it to the absolute limit and you know that sometimes it gives way. That’s part of the game. Every now and then, there are big operations. Yes, you have your doubts, and there’s the disappointment of going back to square one every time, of doing it all again from scratch. It’s pretty difficult, mentally it’s a big load. There’s a phase of accepting the injury.

When will you be back competing? At the end of the Seven Series. I won’t be able to be there for that finish. The idea would be to play the European championship in July. I’m setting off again for the pre-Olympic season, the qualifying one