« Jean-Jé » is an enterprising and altruistic person, who spends a lot of time and energy for other people. In 2004 he moved to China with his family to participate in the development of canoe slalom. He started as a regional coach and thanks to his skills, was chosen to participate in the World Cup tour as a Chinese National Team coach. « Jean-Jé » left China after a year and a half, just enough to learn the basics of the Chinese language. He went to Africa seeking new challenges.
Jean-Jérôme arrived in South Africa in 2005 and took charge of the weak and limited national team. In less than three years he managed to qualify three athletes for the Olympic Games, two of whom came from local slums.
« Jean-Jé » was never interested in an elitist type of development, so he founded a slalom club in the middle of a township with more than 30 active members. This achievement means just as much, if not more to him than the results of the national team.
Jean-Jérôme created the Amadonsa Team in South Africa with the help of Cameron MacIntosh. This led him to coaching Benjamin Boukpeti (TOG) and helping him jump from a 56th world rank to a bronze medal at the Olympic Games in only two years. This was not his only successful collaboration with high-level athletes: in collaboration with J. Abramic, he set up Violetta Oblinger’s training program (Austrian Olympic medallist), and helped Benoît Peschier (Olympic Champion in 2004, now a member of the Greek National Team) regain his form and get back to the top within a few years.
Today, « Jean-Jé » and the Amadonsa Team have three main projects: continuing the development of canoe slalom in South Africa, creating a club in Lomé (Togo) and the London Olympic Games in 2012.