The first individual archery events will take place this Thursday, August 29 on the Esplanade des Invalides. Archer Damien is competing in category W1, reserved for athletes with a disability similar to tetraplegia, with a deficit in the lower limbs, trunk and at least one arm. An athlete with an extraordinary story, he who competed as an able-bodied athlete in 1996 at the Atlanta Olympic Games. At 51, Damien Letulle is the first archer in history to have participated in both the Olympic Games and the Paralympic Games.
By Elodie Vilfrite
For the Paris Paralympic Games, six archers were qualified – two women and four men – including Damien Letulle. A born competitor, Damien Letulle fell in love with shooting at the age of 10, when his grandfather gave him his first bow. Very quickly, the podiums came one after the other. In 1996, the archer was 23 years old. His bronze medal at the European Championships opened the doors to the Atlanta Olympic Games. Eliminated prematurely, he was already aiming for the Sydney Games, but a bad fall turned his life upside down. Damien became quadriplegic. He spent 20 years without shooting a bow.
” I had a hard time seeing high-level sport in a body that doesn’t function at 100%. I didn’t want to do it again and then I was afraid of not being good enough. I was rather invested in the bodies to develop archery, completely forgetting the practice. And then the day of the nomination of the Paris Games arrived, it gave me a tilt. »
Since then, Damien Letulle has been training tirelessly. In 2020, he set the French disabled sports record. The archer practices two shooting sessions per day. A demanding preparation tailored to the champion.
“…I’m having a blast!”
” I worked a lot physically. In terms of adaptations, there were hundreds of prototypes made to compensate for the fact that I couldn’t open my fingers to let go of the string, or pull a trigger. Some engineer friends and I invented a slightly different way of shooting, but which corresponds to what I used to do. Today, with the adaptations we found, I can really enjoy myself when the arrows go off and some that went well end up in the yellow. And there, I get a thunderous thrill. ! »
Participating in the Paris Games has the flavor of revenge. Especially since the archery events take place on the Esplanade des Invalides. A place closely linked to Damien’s journey.
” Following the accident, there was a period when I was at the Invalides center, the military rehabilitation hospital, which gives a lot of meaning to the event. There, I spent time questioning my future. Looking at this golden dome through the window, I said to myself: “What am I going to do?“When I see that today, more than 20 years later, I am at the foot of this dome shooting arrows, there has been a long way to go since that time. »
A remarkable path, written even in his skin. He recently took the plunge. The archer had both forearms tattooed: on the left, the Olympic rings, on the right, the agitossymbols of the Paralympic Games. The final stages of the archery events will take place on September 1.