If he had been born in France, and not at the maternity hospital of the “Sœurs de la Miséricorde” in Montreal, on 17 April 1968, we might have been talking about the “sixty-eigth” syndrome to try and explain the incredible career of Éric Lamaze, a gifted modern show jumper. A journey made up of many highs and many lows; a journey of life, like those he has always drawn with mad talent on the finest show jumping grounds in the world, that is to say at breakneck speed, without “picking up”, as we say in equestrian jargon.

From strokes of genius, like the one that landed him on the top step of the Olympic podium at the Beijing Olympics in 2008, to blows of fate, like the loss of his magnificent companion of fortune, the famous stallion Hickstead, under his saddle three years later, on 6 November 2011 in Verona, Éric Lamaze has always found the energy to bounce back. But now, in his fifties, the Quebec lad is facing the only real challenge that matters: living! Suffering from a brain tumour for the past half-dozen years, he's been working hard at it, with that elusive character that Kamel Boudra, who through encounters as numerous as those available to a TV equestrian sports commentator, sometimes rare in intensity and intimacy, has tried to capture in Gagner pour survivre. A fine essay.

XL

For more information:

• Éric Lamaze. Gagner por Survivre (Winning to survive)
• Kamel Boudra
• Éric Lamaze
• An extract