She has already experienced the joy of an Olympic podium, bronze around her neck, in 2021 in Tokyo, with her mixed coxed four rowing team. Next challenge for the French athlete: a medal at the Paris Paralympic Games. At 41 years old, his sporting career is impressive, his personal life is just as impressive.
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His weeks are punctuated by training, on the water and in the gym, “ between 3 and 25 p.m., with courses, competitions before the Games, end of August “. On Érika Sauzeau’s phone, a shared calendar, “ essential to not forget anything “. Because in parallel with her life as a champion of para rowingthere are her 16-year-old twins, her husband, raising awareness about disability in schools, the search for sponsors…
Between two training sessions, we find her at the Amiens rowing club, on the banks of the Somme. In this room, where she remembers training during the confinements, alone, while just opposite, the bar area was empty, “ a funny atmosphere “. But no choice, we have to work, again and again, with the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021 in our sights. I had to prove my legitimacy to be in the boat with the three others, two of whom had already participated in the Games. “.
Because rowing, she landed there somewhat by chance and made a meteoric rise. In 2019, Érika Sauzeau participated in tests organized by the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, which wants to detect profiles for Paris 2024. “ I was already playing wheelchair basketball at a high level “. She was spotted by the wheelchair tennis federation and signed with a club. A few months later, a phone call will change his life. “ He is the sports director of the French Paralympic committee. He suggested I try para rowing, because a boat qualified for the Tokyo Games, and out of the 4 places, one was vacant “. Then everything happens very quickly, she passed the tests, discovered skiing, did her first internship in France. “I worked 10 times harder than the others, and it paid off “.
Sport as an escape
She has always had this go-getter and determined character. With sport as the common thread. A ward of the State, his childhood is “ difficult », tossed from homes to foster families. “ At 11 years old, a sports instructor introduced me to football, boxing, rugby, I took my revenge, I went from being a bully to being the one you want on your team. Sport is an escape “. At 17, she became a sea lifeguard in the summer and a volunteer firefighter. To gain financial independence, she took on contracts at the factory and began training to become an industrial firefighter.
But in 2002, while crossing a pedestrian crossing, she was hit by a bus. “ It was my left knee that took it. The doctors told me it was going to be difficult to walk again “. After months of rehabilitation, she succeeded and returned to sport. A new professional life opened up to her, as she landed a position as an assistant sports instructor in the Air Force in Doullens, in Picardy, “ I discovered the army, an environment that I had missed in my childhood, I like it “. Then, she obtained a position as an educator for young adults in reintegration, a job she did for 14 years. She makes it a point of honor to play sports with them, “ when we played football, it was real football, it helped to be respected by showing that we are there, and that we sweat with them “.
Continuous pain
But in 2013, a work accident weakened his left leg again, “ who cannot resist a second trauma “. A chondropathy [dégénérescence du cartilage au niveau de l’articulation du genou, Ndlr] advanced is diagnosed, “ I have no more cartilage, and the bone is attacked, I have 40% of my strength left “. With pain unbearable, like daggers, without respite. I was on morphine for 5 years, the doctors told me it was all in my head “. Until a professor diagnosed him with neuropathic pain, “ I finally had a word about my troubles “.
Erika Sauzeau undergoes treatments to reduce pain, because it is not curable. At the same time, she continues to work, but her employer puts her in difficulty, “ and ended up dismissing me for physical incapacity “. It was in 2019, the day before the tests organized by the French Paralympic and Sports Committee. “ I went there with rage in my stomach “. From then on, she became a professional para-athlete in rowing. “ It’s a lot of sacrifice, but when I got my medal in Tokyo, it gave my children a meaning to all my absences “.
Today, the goal is to have another medal in Paris, “ the pain is still there, I have to manage it and I want to keep my place in the boat “. She hopes for more festive games than in Tokyo, which were held in the midst of Covid-19. “ I dream of sharing with para-athletes from other disciplines, and also with an audience “.