At UKC/UKH we are all experienced internet users and as such we understand why some people want to use Ad Block to remove annoying and distracting advertising that proliferates on some web sites We don't feel that UKC/UKH should be considered as such a site We have developed a site that has subtle and appropriate advertising; we don't use pop-ups we don't force you to read adverts before you can see content and we don't use third party ad servers dishing up totally inappropriate advertising We have worked incredibly hard over the years to make sure that we keep a good balance between advertising and editorial content Please could you consider disabling Adblock when visiting UKC/UKH Climbing runs in the family for Zélia Avezou Born and brought up just to the south of paris in Igny she is the daughter of international competition medallist Cecile Avezou and sister to fellow Paris 2024 athlete Sam Avezou The double world youth champion in Boulder showed promise in a strong pool of French talent although her transition to senior World Cups since 2022 has not yet resulted in any semi-final finishes on the circuit her performance in championship events has turned heads In the 2023 IFSC World Champiosnhips in Bern 4th in Boulder - a few attempts off the podium - and 15th in the Boulder & Lead combined competition Zélia is composed and confident on the wall despite her age and brings both technical precision on slabs - a trademark of the French team - and new-school dynamism on complex coordination moves.  An 8th place in Shanghai and 12th place in Budapest left Zélia among the top-10 OQS qualifiers With four French women in the mix for the final country quota place Zélia overcame the immense pressure of competing against more seasoned compatriots Fanny Gibert who remarked on Zélia’s sportsmanship: “I saw a young climber hold in her joy in order to not hurt her older competitors.” Zélia’s 4th place in Boulder at the Bern World Championships matched her mum’s best-ever finish at the World Championships in Paris in 2012 aged 40 Cecile also won a European Championship in Paris in 1996 - is there something about competing on home turf that boosts the Avezou family Paris could yield some strong results.  Zélia has the potential to shine on the big stage at a home event but we think she’ll benefit from considering Paris 2024 as a warm-up for Los Angeles 2028 where with more experience and progression she will be a finals contender You don't have permission to access the page you requested What is this page?The website you are visiting is protected.For security reasons this page cannot be displayed One of the main characters in the most enthralling sub-plot of the Olympic Qualifying Series Sam Avezou was one of three French athletes vying for just two Olympic tickets There are few higher pressure scenarios than competing against friends in order to qualify for a home Olympic games and yet Sam handled the pressure magnificently coming out on top with a first place finish at the Budapest leg of the Olympic Qualifiers demonstrating just how well he can handle the pressure.  Whilst Sam may have slightly better results in the Lead portion of the combined format he’s a climber who has a genuine chance in both disciplines as shown by his performance in back-to-back World Cups during the 2023 season where he earned bronze in the boulder in Innsbruck before taking home silver in the lead in Chamonix just a few weeks later Add to that his impressive showing at the Budapest Olympic Qualifying Series where he managed to finish first in both the boulder and lead finals and you begin to get a sense of just how good Sam is.  With one of his two World Cup medals coming in front of a home crowd it will be interesting to see whether Sam can capitalise upon the home support in Paris Despite not qualifying for the last Olympic games having won Bronze in the combined at the Youth Olympic Games in Buenos Aires in 2018 will also be competing in the combined in Paris Sam has shown that he can handle the pressure when it matters and that he can have magical rounds where he seems to be capable of anything We think he’ll finish on the very edge of the finals he may well be able to find that magic and prove us wrong Oliver: Economics Igby: Semantics. Your Ads Privacy ChoicesIMDb An Autocross Championship class has been won for the second consecutive year on Kumho rubber after Frenchman Florent Tafani brought his Peters Suzuki home ahead of 38 fellow competitors at his home circuit of Saint-Igny-De-Vers The victory clinched the Buggy 1600cc class of the 2016 FIA Autocross Championship completing three victories and eight podiums in the nine-round series who finished a frustrated runner-up in the same category last season stuck with the soft compound K33 Kumho R800 tyres throughout the final weekend re-cutting them when rain began to affect the mix of rough and muddy terrain There was success for Kumho in the Super Buggy class of the Series too claiming fifth place in this more powerful class To obtain optimum traction he opted for a mix of compounds for his Kumho R800 tyres placing the soft K33 ones on the front and harder K71 versions on the rear The ever-competitive Feuillade was among the quickest runners throughout the season but suffered too many collisions to repeat the success he’d previously enjoyed in the lower class Kumho also continues to be the sole supplier of tyres to the Chinese Touring Car Championship and celebrated its 15th successive year as sole tyre supplier to the Zandvoort Masters of F3 meeting If you would like the latest news from the Chinese tyre industry in Chinese, visit our partner site TyrepressChina.com I'm slightly preoccupied with the thought of hearing it again First laugh: at the image of the "right man" eventually falling into her lap "Like: 'Whoops!'" Second laugh: the thought of asking sex advice from her mother Third: remembering Jay McInerney following her round Manhattan like a smell researching the seven-page New Yorker profile of Sevigny where he wrote that she was "the coolest girl in the world" to follow her round for the rest of her life playing a 14-year-old with Aids in Larry Clark's controversial 1995 film Kids – think Skins crossed with Rita already a face on the New York "scene" a model who'd appeared in videos for Sonic Youth and the Lemonheads since moving at 18 from the suburbs of Connecticut "Aryan Darien," Sevigny likes to call it where it was frowned upon to sell a house to Jews When she goes home to see her mother (her father died of cancer in 1996) "There are so many memories there for me," she explains like the place has an aura of sadness." she found the blandness and safety "freeing" She spent her long light evenings sewing her own clothes integrating herself slowly into her skateboarding brother's gang of friends It was through these skaters that she met Harmony Korine later casting her in his directorial debut Gummo receiving an Oscar nomination in 1999 for her supporting role as Lana Tisdel in Boys Don't Cry the true story of Teena Brandon – Hilary Swank played the Nebraskan girl who lived as a boy falling in love with Tisdel before being exposed and finally murdered the director concentrating whole scenes on the movement of her hooded eyes after a handful of critically acclaimed roles in leftfield "difficult" films including American Psycho and Lars von Trier's Dogville she agreed to perform unsimulated oral sex on co-star and director Vincent Gallo in 2003's The Brown Bunny with Sevigny's scene the punchline to many critics' jokes asked readers to "give the woman credit… She says her lines with feeling and puts her iconoclasm right out there where everyone can see it She may be nuts," wrote Manohla Dargis "but she's also unforgettable." Her agents saw things differently and after The Brown Bunny's release at the Cannes Film Festival dropped her as a client It was reported that Gallo and Sevigny had a complicated relationship with him admitting that he's been "obsessed" by her since she was a pre-teen but Sevigny is careful to stress that she regrets nothing "He's a fascinating man," she says slowly Not that that's unusual – actors rarely stay in touch with directors after they've filmed together Gallo hung whole stories on Sevigny's star "I love that title," she giggles for someone to feel that they can draw inspiration from you And I don't think it's necessarily a man 'taking' from a woman After a career of inclusions in magazines' best-dressed lists her high-waisted shorts and pulled-up socks appearing next to other celebrities' careful gowns she began collaborating with the brand Opening Ceremony to design her own collection in 2008 "They're basically things I want to wear inspired by hours spent sitting in Tompkins Square Park [in New York's East Village] and watching the kids go by." rolled-up Levi's and reissued Dr Martens boots In LA to shoot the fifth series of Big Love HBO's drama about a polygamous Mormon family Sevigny snorts as she recalls co-star Jeanne Tripplehorn's reaction to her outfit of the day before "I was wearing my basic late-80s look loud: 'You're BLOWING my MIND.' Which is cool because I always like to dress to entertain." To entertain wear something unusual to distract from my face The summer she was 16 she shaved her head; she still seems confident playing with the idea of beauty "I have the insecurities of any actress Even the most beautiful ones feel unhappy… Look at Bardot: she was suicidal," she says She tells a story about sitting in a doctor's waiting room with a friend recently and flicking through a pile of glossy magazines "And there were all these girls we know on the cover of Marie Claire hon – you'll be on there one day!' And I laughed and laughed knew "who she was" by the time the New Yorker decided to profile her as America's "It Girl" in 1992 On set the crew were handing a copy of the thing round the other day but it barely registered with me at the time I got two things from it – a lifetime subscription to the magazine the 14-year-old fashion blogger beloved of Karl Lagerfeld John Galliano and Comme des Garçons' Rei Kawakubo "A prodigy," writes Lizzie Widdicombe "Magazine editors envy her touch." Does Sevigny see any similarities between the two teenagers "When I was young I shunned the spotlight I wasn't self-conscious; I didn't read magazines She's putting herself out there; things haven't just happened for her It was very odd having Jay McInerney following me round And it was kind of awkward him asking my friends questions about me my mum's advice is never to whine to my friends I save all my problems for my mother." Her new film is the biopic of cannabis smuggler Howard Marks we wanted it to come across as a love story and show how this man's actions affected his family It's scary playing a real person," she admits "Judy and I met at the end of shooting because I think I could've made the character stronger if we'd talked earlier." Sevigny's had to apologise to directors after her honesty has veered promotional interviews off-message I see something like this coming when her voice dips and she begins to talk about her dissatisfaction with the British accent she adopted for the film admittedly one that careers loosely on screen from Southern belle to Cornish farmer "It was passable in rehearsal," she begins She's currently in cinemas as the fiancée of a murderer in Werner Herzog and David Lynch's black comedy My Son and has just finished filming a thriller called The Wait where she plays a girl preparing a party for the return of her dead mother This sounds like a far better fit for Sevigny than Mr Nice where the simplicity of her character leads to her appearing vaguely disconnected at times I got a bit disillusioned with acting for a while," she says "A bit tired of being told how to feel." She's currently developing a script with HBO about an American cult figure She lists the women who have inspired her throughout her life – the ones she had pictures of on her bedroom wall "Women like Kim Gordon and Courtney Love Women with an 'off-thing' going on." Are you a woman with an off-thing going on This article was amended on 5 October 2010 to correct the name of Tompkins Square Park The original misnamed it Thompson Square Park This is the archive of The Observer up until 21/04/2025 The Observer is now owned and operated by Tortoise Media.