Thief, liar, manipulator, but above all a gifted athlete. Who is Toumany Coulibaly, champion of the lap? In Don’t stop running, Mathieu Palain paints the portrait of a kid born in the suburbs, of Malian parents, who will destroy his childhood, his adolescence, and the beginning of his adult life. A captivating story, rewarded in particular by the Interallié prize.
“ I am elusive. Behind my smile, and my kind attitudes, it is important not to scratch the varnish because I believe that I am a heartless monster. […] Who am I ? I don’t really know, except that I’m a thief with uncontrollable impulses “.
He is Toumany Coulibaly, who became French champion in the 400m indoor in 2015, without apparent effort, like a gifted person. Under the pen of Mathieu Palain, we discover a troubled existence.
” We spoke openly “
The author reads the tumultuous life of Toumany Coulibaly in the press. He wrote to her: ” I’m not a psychologist, but I think I understand “. They are from the same year, from the same suburb. A year later, the athlete responds and two years of meetings ensue in the prison visiting room. Then begins a face-to-face where the two men will quickly become friends.
” When I first went to see him I didn’t say to myself : “I am not here to write a book or an article”. We spoke with open hearts, there was no stake. I was just curious about his story. And he, I think he wanted to surrender to someone », Explains Mathieu Palain. ” At first, I was a journalist who came every Wednesday to support a guy, without talking about it to those around me. I was a support who wanted to identify this personality », Adds the author, who dreamed of being a professional footballer.
They see each other every Wednesday for two years. Everything is on the table: his stay in Mali for four years, his children, his wife, his love affairs, his complicated relationship with the family, the prison and this impulse that makes him do anything. To capture this disturbing personality, Mathieu Palain will also question those around him. A long-term investigation, which can look like a self-portrait, without the delinquency box. He transforms a topical subject into a novel, with personal testimonies. Because after two years, the prison realizes that Mathieu Palain is a journalist. He can no longer visit Toumany Coulibaly. He saw the situation as a “ injustice »And decides to make a book of it.
A portrait that addresses the complexity of life
The writer journalist then begins a striking work, by dint of discussions with this man with dented youth, who admits to having committed his first theft at the age of six, at school. Mathieu Palain retraces the journey since childhood of this ” schizophrenic champion “To try to open” the Coulibaly enigma », This little thief repeat offender with 17 brothers and sisters.
The portrait of Toumany Coulibaly addresses the complexity of life. The dented courses, the cruelty of top-level sport. Over the pages, we are moved, sometimes annoyed. But above all, we would like to see Toumany Coulibaly raise his head, take control of the course of his existence. ” I wanted him to change. Let him get out of it. Let him stop flying and become Olympic champion in the 400 meters. I dreamed. I refused to see a reality that yet he did not hide from me “, Writes Mathieu Palain who has difficulty understanding how Toumany Coulibaly has” wasted his talent for bullshit “. The last real race for Toumany Coulibaly dates back to July 13, 2016. Despite the victory, it will end with a non-selection for the Rio 2016 Olympics. The man is dejected.
A reflection on confinement
” In this book I try to answer the question that has been on my mind for a long time: why some do and others don’t. », Explained Mathieu Palain when receiving the Interallié prize. Toumany Coulibaly was the fifth of eighteen children. ” My father hugged me three times », He says. The prison psychiatrist will say: ” It has not been watched “.
” Nobody thinks of me anymore, he said to Mathieu Palain, that’s why when I go out, I won’t shout it from the rooftops, I won’t show off on Instagram. No. My plan is to go out quietly and get ready for 2024. The Olympic Games. Toumany Coulibaly, now free, wants to take care of his family above all.
Don’t stop running, goes beyond the character of Toumany Coulibaly for a reflection on prison, confinement. In this story, Mathieu Palain tries to understand why the prison environment and convicts move him so much. An obsession. ” You should never stop running. It is at the end of the road that we find freedomé ”, writes Mathieu Palain, who has often carried out surveys in penitentiary establishments.
Mathieu Palain, Don’t stop running, L’Iconoclaste, 464 pp., € 19