BMX
He's a man of many talents, a multiple world champion crowned the world's best BMX flatlander at 19 who even played in a romcom movie. Dandois is the host of our new athlete to athlete podcast.
The Frenchman is back in the hot seat for another ride, this time as host of the new podcast, Decoding Athletes with Matthias Dandois.
New episodes will be released every Wednesday at 6PM CEST and feature an in-depth athlete-to-athlete interview with star guests.
We caught up with Dandois to see what life was like behind the mic.
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What prompted you to launch a podcast?
I listen to podcasts when I'm driving my car on my way to competitions and I really love the Joe Rogan podcast. I never really wanted to be a journalist, but I've met a lot of interesting people over the years. I'm an open-minded guy. Even when we're filming BMX projects in the street, I like talking to people. You never know what you are going to come up with.
It was great to have this opportunity for this podcast series where I can talk to some of the most inspiring and interesting people in the world. It's been a crazy journey.
What is the basic premise of this particular series?
For this podcast, I got to interview the best athletes in the world in their disciplines, like Danny MacAskill in trials bike freestyle, Cyril Despres for rally and explorer Mike Horn. The whole point of this podcast was to try and find out what it takes to become such a spectacular human being and incredible athlete, then inspire a new generation to do the same.
I want to reply to all the people at home who usually ask me: "How do you become a professional athlete?" It's not just posting clips on Instagram! It takes dedication, blood, sweat and tears. I hope it's going to inspire a lot of people.
Did any of the athletes really surprise you?
Obviously, I did some research and I thought I knew them fairly well, but all of the athletes surprised me. I went to interview the British rally driver Catie Munnings and it was amazing. She's a tiny human being and it's amazing how she drives that rally car. Her family is right behind her. It was such a great life experience to interview all these people and I can't wait to do more. We've recorded seven podcasts and got to spend two days with each athlete, so people can get a cool vibe on who they are.
What have you learned from all the interviews that you've done over the years that helped you when it came to interviewing other athletes?
The first thing that comes to my mind is that people ask me the same questions all the time! I've done thousands of interviews in my career and I didn't want to ask the same questions to these athletes. I tried to use my knowledge and background as an athlete to be a different journalist. I can never be a better journalist than someone who has done it a long time, but you have to play with your own tools.
Podcasts are different to interviews as you need to remind yourself that someone is listening all the time. After the first 10 minutes, they usually start to open up and can't stop talking. Hopefully we'll get more people than just action sport fans tuning in to listen to these athletes, who are giving genuine answers.
For example, I've been friends with Danny for a long time. An athlete interviewing another athlete means getting different answers as they can open up more to me. With Danny, it was great to share our own experiences and find common ground during the discussion. I felt like every time I interviewed these athletes, I got to know them more than before.
Switching back to your BMX career, what are your main goals now?
I'm turning 31 soon. Definitely Paris in 2024 is important as far as my career is concerned. BMX flatland will not be in Tokyo, but will be in 2024, so I'll hang in there and try to bring that medal back home. That would be great. I've also won the World Cup circuit eight times, so it would be lovely to get 10 titles and round it up.
Other than that, doing cool video projects like the one I've done in New York and try to inspire the new generation. I'm trying to give back what the sport has given to me over all these years.