French athlete Loan Drouard, 22, is a top European wushu champion who is deeply passionate in the pursuit of his sport. He began his inspiring journey at the age of nine after he discovered wushu through a Shaolin documentary, and his family took him to China to train in Henan. He started modern wushu sport training when he was 12 and moved to a new city in France during high school to be able to train every day with one of the national coaches. From 2017-2024 he has placed first in changquan, daoshu and gunshu in the French Wushu Championships. In 2017 he won first prize at the World Kungfu Championships in shaolinquan. In 2019 he won 3 gold wushu medals in the Mediterranean Wushu Championships. In 2022 at The World Games in Birmingham he placed 3rd in daoshu. At the Wushu World Championships in 2019 he placed 7th in daoshu, and at the WWC in 2023 he placed 6th in gunshu. In 2024 he won 2 gold medals at the European Championships in both changquan and gunshu. In fact, Loan is moving towards his dream step by step, and wushu has been an inseparable part of Loan's life.
Wushu Beginnings – Wanting to Be a Shaolin Monk
Born and raised in France, Loan first discovered Shaolin kungfu through a Shaolin documentary that he saw when he was 7. “From that day on,” he recalls, “I discussed it often with my parents, and told them it was my dream to become a Shaolin Monk.” Most parents might humor a dream like this, but after some persistence, Loan’s parents decided to take action, and two years later the family went to China for three weeks during the summer vacation.
Loan recalls, “I then started practicing at the age of 9 years old in a traditional Shaolin school in Henan province. Once there, I immediately fell in love with it, and everything that surrounds it, and I did not want to leave China and go back to France. For the next 3 years we came back to China one or two months each year so I could continue my ‘Shaolin journey’. My mom and dad also had to train each time they came which is kind of funny now that I think about it. But I was quite lucky to know what I wanted to do from the time I was very young. Every time I went back I only got more motivated and my dreams, goals and my wushu project in general started to shape even more, bit by bit.”
Loan’s wushu journey would unfold into two parallel paths, one for traditional wushu and one for contemporary sport wushu which he started training in at 12 years old. For Loan, there is no conflict in training the two different, yet complementary, disciplines. “I love both the same amount,” he says. “I started with traditional kungfu and I will come back to it once my body can not handle modern wushu anymore. Kungfu is the essence, the roots and the actual Chinese cultural heritage -- it’s not only a sport, it’s a whole piece of culture which is infinitely interesting and valuable. I will come back to it for the rest of my life after my wushu sport career. I am currently focusing on modern wushu for now as there is a time limit for that with performance in general.”
An International Debut with Shaolin Quan
For Loan, his first wushu competition was like a dream at a huge international competition in China. He recalls, “My first competition was the Zhengzhou International Shaolin Wushu Festival. It was such an amazing experience. It was huge, with many, many participants. I went there with other foreigners I trained with in the Shaolin school and my mom and dad, and I have such great memories.”
In 2017 Loan’s experience on a big international stage would prove to be a strong foundation competing in Emeishan at the World Kungfu Championships, where he won the first prize in shaolinquan. He remembers, “For the World Kungfu Championships I went back to one of the places I trained when I was younger to practice traditional kungfu and learn a new taolu that I would compete with at the championship. I then traveled to the Sichuan province where I met up with one of my best friends. I remember our coach driving us to the competition area. He was supposed to leave but finally decided to stay during the whole competition to support us. I didn’t expect to win in my category but at the same time I felt so confident for some reason, and it was such a pleasant journey and doing this with one of my best friends made it even more memorable. I was also very thankful to the coach who stayed with me, especially as I was initially registered in the wrong category ! ”
A Focus on Sport Wushu
Loan began training and competing nationally in France in 2013. He says, “The wushu competition scene was actually quite small for modern wushu in France. So we all know each other pretty well now. From the first time we met we have always supported each other. I have been 9-time French champion in total, since 2013, in my categories.”
Loan joined the French National team in 2018, the same year as the World Junior Wushu Championships in Brazil. Competing there became a watershed moment for him, that gave him new perspective on his wushu sport career. He says, “The World Junior Wushu Championships was pure discovery. I didn’t have any specific goals except doing a top 8 and taking experience as I had no idea what to expect. I was truly amazed and it only motivated me to give my best there, come back and train again to get better and better. I remember going back home insanely motivated and this event only confirmed that I was truly doing what I love. Not that I had doubt, but it was a big boost. ”
The motivation paid off, and Loan won the Mediterranean Wushu Championships in 2019 with gold medals in changquan, daoshu and gunshu. It’s an event he looks back on with much happiness. “That competition is without a doubt one of my favorite ones, ” he says. “This is the first competition where I got time to meet with the European athletes. Since then we have become such good friends with one another. It was such a pleasant competition for everyone.
The competition also took place in a very nice place, in Marseille, in the south of France, and we were very close to the beach. We would take electric scooters to go to the beach and eat pizza and watch stars post competition. This was the first competition where I got to know a lot more about other athletes and actually bonded many friendships. Performance-wise, winning in France was also such a nice feeling.”
Maturing at the World Wushu Championships
In 2019 Loan would have his senior debut at the World Wushu Championships in Shanghai. He placed 7th in daoshu. This experience, at a whole new level, became a game changer, especially mentally. “My goal,” he says, “was to finish in the top 8 which I did in daoshu. This of course gave me much confidence for the future. This was also the first time I saw all the athletes I had watched over and over again on the internet in real life, which was very amazing and super impressive. I remember before my chanqquan trying to handle my stress so much that once I arrived on the carpet I didn’t have any. Which was the extreme opposite of too much stress. This of course taught me a lot, as since then I always try to control my emotions to just have the right amount of stress, adrenaline, serenity, confidence etc. Basically trying to get the balance right.”
Struggle and Triumph at the World Games
After the sport isolation of training through the Covid pandemic, 2022 offered new horizons at The World Games in Birmingham. Loan’s performance won him the bronze medal in daoshu/gunshu combined. And yet, it also became the biggest struggle he had ever had in competition.
Loan remembers, “My goal for the World Games was to reach the podium and manage to do my first 720 into a split in competition -- which I succeeded at, and it truly felt like a relief. But when I came to this competition I didn’t feel great as 3 weeks before I started to have a case of pubalgia. Basically my pubis bone had a big crack and it also triggered many other pains in my adductors, hip and back. During warm up I couldn’t do much as this was very, very painful. Even imagining myself falling into a split was so scary -- I didn’t do any almost one month prior to the competition.”
There was nothing to do, he decided, but work through the pain. “With the help of adrenaline once I was on the carpet I didn’t feel anything -- but the pain obviously came back right afterwards. It was some of the worst pain I’ve ever felt in my life. Once I finished my competition walking, sneezing or just rolling over in my bed was extremely painful. But having that bronze medal was my goal, and I really felt so happy about it. All the other athletes were so impressive, so seeing myself on that podium felt amazing.”
The real struggle for health began right after the World Games. Loan says, “I then took a full month break to try and recover in which I did absolutely nothing. We then started trying many options to try to heal my body as soon as possible, but it ended up being 3-4 months without wushu at all ! After that period I very slowly started going back into more dynamic sport. Days after days trying to do a bit a more. Of course it wasn’t a linear improvement and sometimes the pain came back very strong. In the end it took me pretty much one year to fully heal from it. I still have residual pain from time to time, but I am all right now. ”
Ever Evolving
The following year Loan competed at the 16th World Wushu Championships in Fort Worth, and placed 6th in gunshu. “Once again,” he says, “it was an absolutely amazing experience. It was the first competition where I was happy with all my performances. I checked all my goals for that competition and didn’t make any mistakes at all. I also got to meet so many new people ! Everything was fire honestly ! ”
The following year in 2024 Loan became the top European champion in changquan and gunshu. He notes, “I’m very happy with the result, my goal was to do triple gold on that one but it’s ok -- the whole competition was amazing. The French team energy was insane for this one – we traveled as the biggest French team we’ve ever had by far. We were almost 30 people, and many of my teammates from my Paris club were part of it.”
Besides traveling to China, Loan has also gone to Indonesia, Republic of Korea and Singapore in recent years to help evolve his wushu training. “Without it,” he says, “it would be impossible to achieve my dreams. It’s always my favorite time of the year when I can travel somewhere for wushu. Training with the best is such a joy. I love every step of the way between the trainings, meeting friends, discovering different cultures and the peace that comes with being in another country and the only thing you have to think about is training, that’s it.”
Rewards and Challenges
We asked Loan about his biggest rewards and challenges. He replies, “My wushu journey has absolutely been so awesome from the start. I think about wushu every single day, sometimes so much that I can’t even sleep at night, it truly is my passion. Seeing yourself improve, and seeing your goals achieved after much continuous hard work, is the most rewarding part. The people, experiences, memories and life lessons you learn along the way are life changing.”
Loan adds, “My coaches have influenced me in so many ways. They taught me so much in and outside of wushu. They are my guides, my teammates, my friends. We are going through so many moments in life together. I have so much respect for them. So many moments shared together. ”
“My biggest challenges,” Loan continues, “are mostly related to the organization and finding funds for me to be able to keep training. Which at the moment is still not solved at all as my parents are funding 5/6 of my year, each year. My family is so supportive about everything I do, I am very lucky in that regard. They have always supported me from the start -- not only by cheering for me, but also by always trying to help me find solutions to make my life easier. Without them I 100% couldn’t be where I am at today, it would just be technically impossible. I am extremely grateful.”
Wushu Philosophy – All In
Training full-time, with his eyes on the future, Loan immerses himself in a life of wushu. He states emphatically, “I will always be involved in wushu in some way or other. I think you can’t really stop once you’ve understood that kungfu is more than just the sport or performance, but also more a way of living and doing things in your life. To me kungfu and wushu are now pillars of my life. I have what I call different pillars of my life -- for instance family and friends are pillars, wushu is also one of them. Without it my inner balance wouldn’t be complete anymore. More than that I have many plans to expand and promote wushu around the world.”
Loan concludes, “Wushu has influenced my life so much that at the moment everything revolves around it. I try to organize my whole life for wushu and accomplishing my dreams. It has taught me so much as an individual and greatly shaped my vision of certain things over the years. I see myself practicing wushu until the end honestly. There is so much to learn from it. There’s so much I still don’t know about. Concerning my main future goal it’s simple -- I will be world champion one day and win all the competitions I participate in and not just once. The moment will come when it will come.”
