Innès Allouache: "My heart will always beat for Montpellier".

A passion for rowing

A peaceful, sunny childhood, during which the young woman was diagnosed as gifted and skipped several grades during her exemplary schooling. "As a child and teenager, I wanted more than anything to become a sports teacher. So, after taking my baccalaureate with a rowing option, I enrolled in STAPS, where I had to give up this passion as it wasn't one of the options available to students. On closer examination, it was out of spite that I took up bodybuilding" , she laughs today.

At the Palais Universitaire des Sports de Veyrassi, where she trained 4-5 times a week, Innès Allouache quickly outperformed her classmates. Not an easy situation to deal with at the time, as sexism (only 4 girls out of 35 in her class had chosen the bodybuilding option) was compounded by suspicions of doping. " Men are naturally stronger than we are, so some people attributed my performance to something other than my physical ability and mental strength" , she says to this day.

447.5 Kilos

Whatever the criticisms - which, particularly on social networks, are hard to take - Innès Allouache knows what she's worth and plots her course with her head held high. For months now, the young athlete has been racking up success after success in international athletic strength competitions, even going so far as to shatter her own records. During the last University World Cup on July 25 in Tartu (Estonia), she took^1st place on the podium in the under 84 kg category, lifting a total weight of 447.5 kilos in a series of three spectacular movements: a squat, a bench press and a deadlift.

It's a performance that has made the 20-year-old proud, and she sees it as an opportunity to popularize (a little) her discipline, often mistakenly confused with weightlifting. "Today, my parents are torn between pride and concern. But the only thing I'm risking is a good case of tendonitis ", Innès reassures them with a smile. With the next competitions already on the horizon in Bordeaux and Belarus, Innès Allouache will soon be joining the Villepinte club, except for university competitions. " My heart will always beat for Montpellier and my university," says Innès, who will be flying the UM colors at the next World University Athletic Strength Cup in Sharjah (United Arab Emirates) in July 2020. A champion, a beautiful one!

UM sportsmen and women at the top!

The University of Montpellier celebrates its athletes who have won medals at the World, European and French University Championships at an annual ceremony organized by the SUAPS. Read the portraits of these champions who lead the demanding double life of student-athlete. Read all the portraits...