The double Olympic champion of Paris 2024 has annoyed a French Paralympic athlete.
From August 28 to September 8, the Paralympic Games will punctuate the daily lives of the French and Parisians, as during the Olympic Games, with the same enthusiasm hoped for by the organizing committee of the Games and a certain Tony Estanguet, head of the committee.
As with the Olympic Games, the athletes will be the center of attention during the ten days of competition. France hopes to collect many medals in all disciplines, particularly in para swimming, para athletics, wheelchair basketball, etc. As is often the case at the Paralympic Games, spectators will certainly be surprised by the performances and skills despite their disabilities. An important recognition, but one that may cause bitter feelings among some.
Invited to RTL’s Morning Show, Teddy Riner, who won two new gold medals at the Olympic Games, including a third in the individual category, wanted to promote the Paralympic Games, albeit with a certain clumsiness. With Marie-José Perec, they talked about para-athletes by calling them “heroes”. “We look at them and say to ourselves that they are our heroes. We know what it means to train every day,” the triple Olympic champion began, before the judoka added: “With a disability,” before talking about “superheroes.”
A comment, not mean of course, but which did not please Sofyane Mehiaoui, member of the French wheelchair basketball team who regularly fights to avoid this kind of comparison. “The fact that we are spoken of as superheroes does not help us. We are people with disabilities and we want to be considered as normal people. When we are overexposed, it is not good. We are not superheroes, we are athletes. So come see us because we are going to perform, we are going to achieve sporting feats, that is why you have to come see us.”
Same observation about Tony Estanguet’s speech. “It bothers me a little when he says that, because it means that we are treated differently. I don’t want any miserabilism from Paris 2024. Especially since for two years, we have managed to make sure that we talk about the athletes and their performances. That’s how we change mentalities. I don’t want us to destroy everything in a month by saying: “Come and see the poor handicapped people, because they were brave to overcome their handicap.”