Fencing Champion Laura Flessel began fencing at age six and quickly became a very talented fencer. She progressed quickly and became the champion of Guadeloupe. She won her first world stage success in 1995, After her gold medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics and her victory at the 1998 World Cup, she became the eighth French fencer and the first woman to win the Olympic and World Champion titles. She has won the most Olympic medals of any French sportswoman, with five. She was France's flag-bearer at the 2012 Summer Olympics opening ceremony in London, which was her fifth and last Olympics. She was appointed Minister of Sports in 2017 and is on the selection committee for the 2024 Paris Olympics.

She came in November to the Lycee Francais de New York to speak to the students, participate in a fencing workshop, and to a public conversation with Alvin Patrick, executive producer at CBS News, together with a senior student, Ariane Chevrier. 

We asked her what it takes to become a champion in your life.

In French