Mika Heideyer, a young swimmer from Martinique, has just distinguished herself at the Caribbean games in Guadeloupe. The flag bearer of the delegation, won three gold medals in the 50 and 100 meter butterfly as well as in the 200 meter freestyle. The young woman who trains in Antibes will leave France to study and continue to progress in the United States.
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Mika Heideyer is a pearl for French swimming. Aged 19, the young woman grew up in Martinique before leaving to train in Mulhouse, near Strasbourg in 2017.
After three seasons in Alsace, she wanted to change her living environment and moved to Antibes. She takes place in a group with a new trainer.
From June 29 to July 3, 2022, she shone at the Caribbean Games. She is the only athlete to have won three gold medals. Before such a performance, she had already shone in the world basins.
I’m going to the United States to play sports and study. I have been attracted to this country for a long time, I like the winning culture specific to the USA. It’s advantageous to do high-level sport because we have scholarships. In France it is almost impossible to reconcile the two. There everything is done to succeed. I’m leaving on August 17, I can’t wait.
Mid-August, Mika must leave France to join the United States and more precisely the UIndy University of Indianapolis.
As part of his studies, Mika Heideyer devotes himself to a major in psychology. She wants to discover this culture, based on sport, “where there is a real winning culture” she clarifies.
Then she adds “I also like the fact of swimming for a team, a university, for the classification“.
On site, even if she does not know all the details, she goes swimming twice a day. His days will begin and end with training, interspersed with lessons.
Mika Heideyer (seated in the middle) with (from left to right) his aunts, his mother, his grandmother and his brother.
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Despite this departure across the Atlantic, the young woman does not change license, she remains in the club of Antibes.
In Martinique and in France, training is done in Olympic pools of 50 meters. In the United States, they are done in pools of 25 yards or 22 meters. This is what the Martinican is looking for. “VSis totally different, I will have to intensify the work with the legs, as well as the cardio”.
My goal is to qualify, or rather to be present, for the 2024 Olympic Games which will take place in Paris. And why not extend with the 2028 Olympics in Los Angeles. It is ambitious but accessible.
Mika Heideyer concedes that he also has the objective of further improving his times. “When I leave, I hope to find this little punch, this desire to go to training every day, this desire to surpass myself and this competitive spirit specific to the United States.“.
In addition to the sporting aspect, Mika Heideyer, wants to fully live her life as a young woman and to flourish humanly. “I want to discover new people, a new way of working. I don’t expect anything, but I’m here to enjoy and to have as many good times as possible” she concludes.
