Julia Pereira
Julia Pereira interview: “Simply believe in your dreams and never doubt, whatever happens, even if it is hard every day.”
At 16 Julia Pereira won Olympic silver at Pyeongchang 2018. Now she talks to us about coping with life as a professional snowboard cross athlete and balancing personal and professional objectives.
“I am determined to become a great champion.”
By Paul McGee, Head Feature Writer. May 25 2019
“I just want to be happy,” Julia Pereira tells me.
I’ve asked the 2018 Olympic Snowboard Cross silver medallist where she sees herself ten years from now.
Her reply doesn’t sound terribly ambitious, but for the now 17 year old SBX star it might prove to be a demanding aspiration. In fact Julia Pereira’s personal contentment could be every bit as exacting as her professional goals “to become a great champion and to win everything.”
First she must navigate her way on a perilous journey that might stretch out for another twenty years, one beset with pitfalls at every turn. Look back over any athlete’s career and you find a litany of injuries; then there’s the roller-coaster of success and failure, a relentless ride that punishes the emotions and batters the minds of even the most resilient sports men and women.
Mercedes Nicoll, the most decorated rider on the Canadian women’s snowboard team, talks about “dark places” and has been key in opening up about mental health in sport; Short Track world record holder Elise Christie talked to ice a trail about her struggles to dredge up motivation at times, “because it’s been so tough.” And just two weeks ago, alpine ski legend Tina Maze explained to me the unbelievable challenges she faced just to be accepted as a serious competitor during her early career.
But as I get to know Julia Pereira a little bit I think: she’s going to make it.
Growing up in Saint-Cézaire-sur-Siagne, 30km north of Cannes on the Mediterranean coast, Julia Pereira spent most of her winters in the resort of Isola 2000, where her parents ran Le Spot snack bar. And that eatery, as much as anything, was instrumental in Julia’s future career as a snowboard cross athlete.
“I practiced skiing from two to nine years old, but I did not really like it. My parents had a snack bar in Isola 2000 that was the meeting place of all the riders of the resort, so I grew up in the atmosphere of snowboard. During skiing training, on a whim I decided to move to snowboard. Then 3-4 years later I chose to specialize in SBX for the adrenaline, and especially for the competition with the other competitors.”
Julia Pereira is part of that special breed of winter sport athletes who need not only the rush of speed, but the sensation of shoulder-to-shoulder racing. It’s common in all the snowboard cross riders we’ve spoken to here: Lindsey Jacobellis, Michela Moioli, Pierre Vaultier. They need to be racing against other competitors – forget about the clock.
In any case the battling métier fits very nicely into the Julia Pereira snowboard mentality, as evinced by her early successes. At 9 years old Julia won the French National Championships in Snowboard Slalom. She would go on to another 17 national titles across the snowboard disciplines, and at just 15 became the youngest competitor on the European Cup circuit.
But the crowning glory of her career thus far was at last year’s Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang.
Under a blue sky at Phoenix Park the massing crowd, enjoying some unusually benign weather, had reason to be excited. They were witnessing the very finest racers in the history of snowboard cross. Julia Pereira finished her quarter final in second place behind Michela Moioli – a premonition of the big final. In the second semi final Julia crossed the line in third place, behind compatriot Chloé Trespeuch in second and Michela Moioli, who seemed to know only one way to finish a race at Pyeongchang. With the first three finishers qualifying for the big final, Julia joined SBX cynosures Lindsey Jacobellis, Eva Smakova and Aleksandra Zhekova, who had all gone through in the first semi.
It made for a mouthwatering line up, the who’s who of snowboard cross. No one was there to make up the numbers.
The track at Phoenix park is 1300m long and for almost a kilometre Julia was battling in 4th position, but in the final few hundred meters she found some speed and a racing line that saw her pass everyone but Moioli to finish second and win Olympic silver.
While the cameras sought the Italian gold medallist in the finish area, in the background was a disbelieving Julia Pereira, hands to her face as she tried to take in what she had just achieved. At just 16 she had beaten some of the best snowboard cross athletes in history and become the youngest French winter Olympian to win a medal.
“It is something that makes me really proud,” Julia tells me. “But I keep in mind only my second place and the experience gained during this event, more than the record in itself.”
And here we come to one of the reasons that suggest Julia Pereira will succeed both athletically and emotionally as a competitor: she doesn’t want to be a personality, a footnote remembered for being young and good. She just wants to be good. To get results.
Nonetheless, age is a factor. For one thing, Julia Pereira is still in full time education. And that, alongside her life a professional snowboard cross athlete, presents some challenges.
“Currently, I am studying at the Lycée Of Albertville in Savoie where I will sit my Baccalauréat of French next month and where I train physically every day. I’ve already started my preparation for next winter.”
It is a life that is as relentless as it is unique.
“It is true that it is a particular and intense rhythm of life,” she agrees. “For example, when I am at school, I start my days at 7:30am, I study for two hours and then do two hours of sport. Then I eat and, in the afternoon, I study again for three hours and I finish my day with a session of sport. Usually I finish my day at 8pm. This program changes sometimes but in general my weeks are intense.”
There will be those who say that Julia Pereira doesn’t understand the real challenges of being a professional athlete yet, that the ups and downs which lie ahead of her will be a shock to her young system.
But the truth is she is prepared perhaps better than anyone, because she has already faced more trials than some of her older competitors – training and competing alongside her education for one thing. In other words, Julia has been battle-hardened as a result of her age. Balancing education and sport takes some serious mental tenacity.
On top of that though, Julia Pereira just gets it. She understands the demands of international competition very well.
“Yes sure it’s a wonderful life,” she says. “We travel all around the world, we meet a lot of people but it is not easy every day. We have to make a lot of sacrifices, and personally my family and my boyfriend miss me a lot when I am abroad. During the post-Olympic season my motivation declined because I had a lot of pressure on my shoulders.”
There were media obligations after Pyeongchang and if Julia was going to capitalize on her Olympic snowboard cross success, those obligations that had to be met. An athlete needs money to compete, and that means sponsors, which in turn means publicity. It simply isn’t possible for a professional athlete to live a private life.
After the clamouring press had its turn and the 2018 season ended, it was time for Julia Pereira to return to school. She managed to eke out a week for herself but otherwise it was non stop. To make matters worse, her health suffered.
“I caught a mononucleosis and that held me back in my physical preparation for two months.”
Mononucleosis is a viral infection that most of us will contract at some point in our lives. In fact it is said that by the age of 40, 90% of us will have caught mono at some time or other. It isn’t usually serious and often as not goes away on its own, but it can lead to a general feeling of malaise and for a full time athlete in full time education, can easily wipe out a season. A chunk of one at least.
“It was really difficult to recover from,” Julia confirms.
Pro athletes are used to a life of epic highs and crushing lows, but for someone who might have 20 years of competing ahead of her and is at the start of her career, the trials must have taken their toll on her resolve. I wonder if Julia Pereira Snowboard Cross Star ever thought of throwing in the towel and becoming Julia Pereira Nine-to-Five Worker.
“Yes obviously it crossed my mind several times – especially at my young age, it is even more difficult. But I have incredible luck to be where I am and snowboarding is my whole life.”
Julia has an attitude that’s paradoxically both grounded and supremely ambitious. Perhaps because she has already been rattled by the pressures of her sport, she knows what to expect from it. But she has that strong personality that, I think, will see her avoid many of the less salubrious trappings of sporting glory. Following her Olympic medal, for example, Julia Pereira was able to snag a few sponsors: the resort of Isola 2000, the city of Nice, and A’ura Natural Gold Water. But there were also manufacturers of weight loss supplements who wanted to attach themselves to Julia’s name and while their financial support would have been undoubtedly beneficial to the rising snowboard cross athlete, she did not want to be associated with that image. It’s a wholesome attitude and if Julia has already learned the dangers of selling your soul for a buck, she’s sure to navigate the perils ahead with the same facility.
Besides, healthy eating is a concept not lost on Julia.
“For me nutrition is really important for my performance, but I do not follow a specific program. I try to be as reasonable as possible but sometimes I do cheat meals,” she admits, confiding: “I love Nutella…”
Julia Pereira is one of those people who seem to have a clear perspective on life and because of that I feel like I want to hear her advice to those who might look to emulate her achievements.
“I would advise to simply believe in your dreams and never doubt – whatever happens, even if it is hard every day. And for sure: work on your objectives, because it is the only thing that pays.”
And she knows a thing or two about objectives, both personal and professional.
“For the ten next years, in terms of sport achievements I would like to win two other Olympic medals, to win the general standings and be world champion. I am determined to become a great champion and to win everything. In my personal life I have not planned anything special, I just want to be happy.”
Julia Pereira has an auspicious future. She looks well-placed to find success as an athlete and, just as importantly, success as a person. She has that knack of taking a step back and casting an objective eye upon her experiences, both good and bad. Presumably a strong team helps iron out the creases but success for Julia Pereira, I realise, comes first from within.
My thanks to the inspirational Julia Pereira for her time.
You can keep up with Julia on her quest to become personally and professionally successful at the following feeds:
Julia Pereira Instagram: @julia_pereira_snowboard
Julia Pereira Facebook: /julia-pereira-snow
Related article: Michela Moioli