Mimoun revealed that before leaving for Melbourne for the 1956 Olympics, he had done his final training in the Corrèze village of Bugeat, which resembled his native village in Algeria.[36] In an interview conducted in October 2002, Mimoun said,"When I announced that I was going to run the 1956 Melbourne Olympics marathon, everyone told me that I was too old. The French, the foreigners and everyone were laughing except Zátopek."[4]