After her surprising silver medal in the Olympic triathlon, Julie Derron talks about her premonition, her breakfast ritual, her ear studs and her mother.
It's crowded in the media zone on the historic Alexandre III bridge in Paris. Everyone wants something from silver medal winner Julie Derron. The 27-year-old from Zurich is beaming all over her face and gives a deep insight into her feelings.
Julie Derron, it must have been a perfect day today?
Yes, I think I really had the perfect race today. The silver medal hasn't quite sunk in yet. It's incredible, I'm extremely proud, we worked so hard as a team.
When did you realize that the medal was possible?
After about two laps of the run, when I was still in the leading group. There were four of us, so one of us wouldn't get a medal. I said to myself: this is not me. I still felt good after two laps. The game plan was always to keep a good pace and then accelerate in the second half. It worked, I was able to outpace two of the other athletes.
Did you expect this result yourself?
About three or four weeks ago, I told Brett (Sutton, your coach) that I had a feeling I could win a medal. Okay, we said to ourselves, let's accept the feeling, stop thinking about it and focus on the competition. I knew what I was capable of, that I was in shape. But it's always one thing to be in shape and then be able to deliver on day X. The fact that I managed to do that makes me extremely proud.
You have small pistols as ear studs. What's that all about?
(laughs) When I started with Brett Sutton about eight years ago, he told me I was a 'little pistol' because I wasn't a gun - not good enough yet.
Then you bought it?
I got it from my coach as a lucky charm. Now I'm no longer 'little', just 'pistol'. (laughs)
What time did you get up?
The alarm went off at 4 o'clock. They decide what happens at half past three on race day. I looked at the email and knew: Go!
You studied nutritional science. Does that help you choose your breakfast so early in the morning?
Of course you try out a lot of things. As an athlete, you have to find out what works best for you. My studies didn't necessarily help me with that, but it was certainly a good balance.
What did you have for breakfast?
Rice and honey. As an athlete, you get used to eating rice at 5 o'clock in the morning.
How have you followed the discussion about water quality?
It's something we can't influence. We just have to wait and see what the decision is. You don't think about it on the day of the competition. The current was quite strong, which was a challenge.
The swim then went very well.
I could have got out of the water a few seconds earlier. I had to fight extremely hard after the second buoy and had a small hole at the start of the second lap. I had to invest a lot to get out in or right at the end of the first group. I knew then that this was the decisive moment. I had to be close enough to be able to catch up on the bike. That certainly decided my race.
How much did you have to watch out on the bike? There were a few crashes.
It certainly wasn't easy, but I trust in my good technique and didn't worry. I also knew that the harder it would be on the bike, the better I would be on the run afterwards, because we always push that in training.
Three years ago, you narrowly failed to qualify for Tokyo.
I know that I simply wasn't good enough to go to Tokyo. That was a good thing and gave me a lot of motivation to make sure I'm among the best in Paris. (laughs) Not going to Tokyo, but the medal in Paris, I'll take that any day.
What's still to come?
After the men's race there's the medal ceremony. I will definitely try to find my family. They were somewhere on the side of the road. I tried to find my mommy during the race. Once I saw her, and she was 'fantasizing' so much, I had a smile on my face.
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