Florence Ezeh: a colleague, a coach, a champion

“At the beginning I cried a lot because I was so frustrated. I knew I could do it, but when it just doesn’t come. You ask yourself, ‘Why? Why can’t I make it happen?’ And then you turn that into power.”

This is what it means to be driven, to have the kind of grit and determination to succeed. And, boy, does Florence Ezeh have it in abundance. Florence (or Flo to her friends and colleagues) works in business development for our Integrated Printing & Services Group, looking after DreamLabo 5000 customers and supporting the Large Format print team. And while we obviously think she’s a champion, well…she actually is.

Because Florence came to Canon after an incredible and distinguished career as a professional athlete, representing both France and Togo in the hammer throw at championship level around the world. But how does one even begin to become world-class in such a sport? According to Florence, while it’s about pure focus, motivation and drive to succeed, it wasn’t a straight path, by any means. “A sports teacher, Mrs Odile Morcet, introduced me to shot put and I took part in a competition where I saw a group of boys throwing the hammer,” she remembers. “I said, ‘I want to do that!’ and was told ‘no, that’s not for girls’.”

A year later, that changed and girls were allowed to train in hammer throw and she was soon introduced to Walter Ciofani, who would go on to coach her for her entire career. “He competed at three World Championships and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics,” she says. “He is really well-known and respected, and he taught me a lot.” It was he who showed Florence how to transform her frustration into might, to take every setback and channel it into pure power and will to succeed. And it is this quality that has taken her through life, approaching every challenge as a chance to overcome, grow and succeed.

However, it was an athletics scholarship to Southern Methodist University in Dallas, Texas (where she also studied business and German), which put her firmly on the competitive map under the guidance of Head Track and Field Coach Dave Wollman. She travelled around the world with an elite group of student athletes who, like her, were gathered from every imaginable country. “The facilities at US schools are out of this world and the scholarship meant I didn’t have to worry about anything – you just concentrate on training and competing.” And training is both physically tough and mentally relentless. “Five or six times a week. People don’t realise that, between training and recovery, being a professional athlete is a full-time job,” she says.

She would routinely undertake conditioning training, drills and weight lifting for around three hours in the morning, in between classes, followed by an afternoon of throwing and stretching. “It pushes your mind and body to the limits and sometimes you get so tired, but you know you have to go back the next day,” she adds. But, somewhat surprisingly, she laughs at the memory, which tells you a lot about Florence’s character. She absolutely is not afraid of hard work. “When I retired from hammer and joined Canon, Charles Gozlan (Business Operations Director at Canon France) said, 'I chose you because you're a former athlete. Because if I give you something, I know you will do it. You're dedicated”. And he was absolutely correct.

At her peak, she was competing for France in World and European Championships. Her retirement in 2004, however, did not go to plan when she was invited to represent Togo across a number of high-profile African events. “It was a totally different world – the spirit, the eagerness, I loved it.” Eventually, though, she did formally retire – just from competing, of course. She had absolutely no intention of leaving the sport behind. “It was important for me to give back,” she explains. “So, I began to coach in 2008 and gained my coaching degree. I really wanted to show people that no matter where you start, you can always improve. But you need to be really organised and dedicated, and take it step by step – set goals and achieve them. Once you learn this lesson, you have it forever.”

Today, she works full-time at Canon while also coaching at the Club Athlétique de Montreuil 93 where she is also the Vice President, refereeing and volunteering in athletics during her spare time and annual leave. “I'm also in charge of throwing development in the Paris area, so I organise two training camps a year on top of coaching,” she explains. “I believe there are people who are set on your path to elevate you and that’s what I try to do for the athletes I work with. I am a stepping stone to them reaching their full potential.”

To achieve all this takes a people-person with truly incredible organisational skills, but also championship level motivation. And this conscientiousness isn’t limited to the athletics world. She particularly enjoys the work she does with our customers, also helping them to grow faster and achieve better results. At this year’s FESPA Global Print Expo, Florence was thrilled to be face-to-face with customers old and new. “You interact, you learn and you get to meet people from so many different backgrounds,” she smiles.

She’s every bit as driven by career success as she was when competing. But most impressive of all is Florence’s desire for others to succeed too – customers, colleagues and the young women she trains to be the next generation of athletes on the world stage. “At practice, I tell them, ‘Don’t be shy. You need to be seen’. I always want them to be more – to just go for it!”