Frenchwoman Sandrine Martinet won a silver medal on Thursday, September 5, 2024 in para judo, for her fifth participation in the Paralympic Games. In the final, she lost to Akmaral Nauatbek, from Kazakhstan.
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At 41, the triple world champion, gold medalist in Rio during the Paralympics of 2016, was still in the spotlight. In front of her home crowd at the Arena Champs-de-Mars, the Frenchwoman brought the entire room to its feet for her fifth Paralympic Games.
From Athens 2004 to Paris 2024
Sandrine Martinet leaves the world of judo through the front door, with money around her neck. A medal that she went to get with rage: ” I am happy with this performance, I gave everything on this day. It is with the help of the public that I won the semi-final (against the Chinese Li Liqing, Editor’s note). »
Then, in the final, Sandrine Martinet had to face her formidable Kazakh rival Akmaral Nauatbek, the scarecrow of her category. I have no regrets, she was above me. The goal for me was a medal. It was difficult to get in a year where I suffered quite a bit. ” she admits just after kissing her daughter as she leaves the tatami.
After her silver medal in Tokyo in 2021, Sandrine Martinet could have thought that she had covered everything. Because Sandrine Martinet’s history with para judo goes back to Athens in 2004, where she won silver, as well as in Beijing in 2008. A while. But her monthly salary with the “army of champions” changed the situation. Since 2022, she has finally been making a living from her sport. No more need to chain together complicated schedules between her professional life as a physiotherapist and her obligations as a mother.
” I wanted to be in Paris, I wanted to get a fifth medal. This is my fourth silver and it’s magnificent. “, says the one who is pleased to have finally had the means to work peacefully. The level has increased so much. Para judo has become very demanding. If you are not in the training centers with the able-bodied, it is difficult to claim a medal. ” she explains.
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Judo as a moral refuge
For young Sandrine Martinet, practicing judo was above all a moral refuge before becoming a passion. Sandrine Martinet, who suffers from a visual handicap caused by a genetic disease that alters her vision – she does not perceive any color and her visual acuity is reduced –, was the target of mockery and violence from her classmates throughout her childhood. At the time, she felt a deep sense of injustice in having to redouble her efforts to be able to read the blackboard at school.
At the age of 9, Sandrine Martinet discovered the judo mats in Vincennes. For the first time, she felt fully integrated. Today, it’s even more dramatic with harassment and social networks, but at the time, I was suffering. “, she testifies in the columns of Release. Although she began her sport by facing able-bodied opponents, it was at the age of 16 that she discovered para judo.
In 2002, the Montreuil native launched herself into the high level and joined the French team with the number one goal of shining at the Athens 2004 Paralympic Games, which were the first to host women’s para judo. The rest: an impressive career that made her an example for young people who practice para judo.
” Sport has given me so much. The main thing is to find your way, to find your path. Sport has given me everything ” concludes Sandrine Martinet as the audience shouts her name.