Rémy Boullé: former commando, accident… Who is the Paralympic athlete?

Rémy Boullé is a Paralympic athlete who is aiming for the gold medal at the Paris Games.

Rémy Boullé is not just an athlete. A former Air Force commando and member of the French parachuting team, the athlete defended the interests of France in operations in Afghanistan, Mali, Niger and Chad and commands the respect of the entire nation. It was at the age of 26 that Rémy Boullé became paraplegic following a parachuting accident during training. With his strength of character, he decided to bounce back and turned to a childhood passion, para canoeing.

A recent European champion, he won bronze at the last Games in Tokyo and is aiming for gold this time and is assuming this ambition. “I know I can do it (…) if I manage to focus mainly on myself. I can do what is called the hold-up. Because for the moment, I have never been a world champion, nor a Paralympic champion. I just have to manage to do a very big first 150 meters. After that, the opponents will not come back to me” he explains for France 3. “The race, we think about it, we live it. When we go to bed, we think about it a little. Of course, I have it in my head. By increasing my training sessions by 30 to 40%, I tell myself that I have no right to fail. We put a little pressure on ourselves because we know we are at home, that we are expected. I would be really disappointed to miss this race, to miss out.

Awards

• 2024
• European Champion (KL1 200m) at Szeged
• Vice-World Champion (KL1 200m) in Szeged
• 2023
• 3^e (KL1 200m) at the Sprint World Cup in Vaires-sur-Marne
• Vice-World Champion in Duisburg
• Vice European champion in Montemor
• 1^er at the World Cup in Szeged
• 2022
• 3^e in KL1 200m at the European Championship in Munich
• 3^e KL1 200m at the World Road Race Championship in Halifax
• 1^er at the World Cup in Poznan in KL1 200m
• 2021
• 4^e in the World Cup in Copenhagen
• 3^e at the Tokyo Paralympic Games in the 200m
• 2020
• 2^e in the KL1 200m World Cup in Szeged
• 2019
• 6^e at the European Championship Poznan
• 7^e at the World Championship in Szeged
• 5^e World Cup in Poznan
• 2018
• 3^e of the European Champion in Belgrade
• 4^e World Cup in Szeged
• 2017
• 5^e European Championship in Plovdiv
• 1^er World Cup in Szeged
• 2016
• 5^e at the Rio Paralympic Games
• 2^e at the European Championship in Moscow
• 8^e at the World Championship in Duisburg
• French champion (12 times) in road racing and long-distance running since 2015.