2021 PARALYMPIC GAMES. After the 2022 Olympic Games, it’s time for the Beijing 2022 Paralympic Games with good chances of medals for France.
While the Beijing 2022 Olympics ended on February 20, the Paralympic Games are now in sight and will begin on Friday March 4 with the traditional opening ceremony before concluding nine days later, on March 13. In total, 78 Paralympic titles will be distributed in these Games. As for the able-bodied, Beijing will host ice sports (sledge hockey and curling), Zhangjiakou cross-country skiing, biathlon and snowboarding and Yanqing for alpine skiing events. Note that for the Alpine skiing, Nordic skiing (biathlon and cross-country skiing) and snowboarding events, three categories are present with the visually impaired, para skiers standing and those who are seated while, for example, curling is played exclusively in wheelchairs. rolling, in teams of four and mixed, and that sledge hockey is reserved for athletes with disabilities in the lower part of the body.
The French Paralympic team will try to do better than in PyeongChang in 2018 where the French finished 4th in the medal standings with 20 charms, including 7 in gold. Specialist in Nordic para skiing and triple Paralympic medalist, Benjamin Daviet will be the flag bearer of the tricolor delegation: “It is a huge honor to be elected flag bearer. I thank the athletes for the trust they place in me and will do my best to be the captain, the confidant, the spokesperson and to help enhance the diversity and richness of this delegation”.
Which French delegation in the Paralympic Games?
The French delegation will be made up of 19 athletes, including four guides for the para alpine skiing (2) and para Nordic skiing (2) events, including Marie Bochet. The para-skier, with nearly eight Paralympic titles in the standing category, four in Sochi in 2014 and as many in Pyeongchang in 2018 can again bring back medals in downhill, super-G, giant, slalom and super-combined.
The 19 French people competing for the Paralympic Games are: Arthur Bauchet, Marie Bochet, Hyacinthe Deleplace, Valentin Giraud-Moine (guide), Maxime Jourdan (guide), Manoël Bourdenx, Jordan Broisin, Lou Braz-Dagand, Oscar Burnham, Victor Pierrel , Jules Segers, Benjamin Daviet, Anthony Chalençon, Brice Ottonello (guide), Alexandre Pouyé (guide), Maxime Montaggioni, Mathias Menendez, Laurent Vaglica and Cécile Hernandez.
They were 138 in total in Tokyo (as well as 15 guides or assistants) to try to bring back as many medals as possible to France in these Paralympic Games. Details of France’s medals at the 2021 Paralympic Games:
- Gold medals : Alexandre Léauté (individual pursuit C2); Dorian Foulon (individual pursuit C5), Alexis Hanquinquant (triathlon) Fabien Lamirault (table tennis), Alexandre Lloveras and Corentin Ermenault (time trial), Florian Jouanny (line race), Kévin Le Cunff (line race, C4- 5), the duo Stéphane Houdet – Nicolas Peifer (men’s doubles in wheelchair tennis), the duo Fabien Lamirault – Stéphane Molliens (men’s doubles in table tennis, Classes 1-2), Lucas Mazur in para badminton (SL4 category).
- Silver medals : Alexandre Léauté (kilometre C2); A.Bourlon (weightlifting); Ugo Didier (400m freestyle s9), Sandrine Martinet (judo -48kg), Marie-Amélie Le Fur (length), Léa Ferney (table tennis), Matéo Boéas (table tennis), Loïc Vergnaud (time trial), Loïc Vergnaud (line race), Dimitri Pavadé (long jump T64), Florian Jouanny, Loïc Vergnaud and Riadh Tarsim (road handbike relay), Timothée Adolphe (100m, T11), Nelia Barbosa (200m KL3), the duo Lucas Mazur – Faustine Noël (mixed doubles SL3 – SU5).
- Bronze Medals : Marie Patouillet (Pursuit C5 para-cycling on track), Alex Portal (400m freestyle S13), Mandy-François Elie (200m T47), Annouck Curzillat (triathlon), Thomas, Kamkasomphou, Barneoud & Créange (table tennis), Raphaël Beaugillet and François Pervis (cycling), Nathalie Benoit (PR1W1x skiff), Erika Sauzeau, Antoine Jesel, Rémy Taranto, Margot Boulet and Robin Le Barreau (France 4 team with coxswain), Souhad Ghazouani (weightlifting – 73kg), Hélios Latchoumanaya (weightlifting), Trésor Makunda (400m), Ronan Pallier (long jump), Alexandre Léauté (time trial C2), Florian Jouanny (time trial H2), the duo Anne Barneoud and Thu Kamkasomphou (tennis team table tennis), the duo Thomas Bouvais and Clément Berthier (team table tennis) and the trio Nicolas Savant Aira, Florian Merriem and Maxime Thomas (team table tennis), Ugo Didier (swimming, 200m medley), Alexandre Léauté (road race, C1-3), Marie Patouillet (road race, C4-5), F lorent Marais (100m backstroke, S10), Rémi Boulle (canoe sprint, KL1), Alexandre Lloveras (road race, B).