given favorite, Guillaume Toucoullet misses the target – Libération

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Behind the grandiose shooting range of the Esplanade des Invalides where the para-archery events take place, hides the intimacy of the training targets. It was there, without an audience and far from the hustle and bustle that animates the other competition sites, that Guillaume Toucoullet scored ten in the center of the target to beat the Paralympic record, Thursday August 29, during the qualifications for his category, open recurve bow. The confidentiality of the moment did not displease the leader of the Blues who, behind his imposing physique, is rather discreet and humble in nature.

It was necessary for the speaker’s announcement to confirm his great achievement for him to believe it. For the almost 40-year-old Basque, it was “a big surprise”, even though the result was 13 points below his own world record (652 for 665 in 2022). And that he is used to big results: current world number 2 in para-archery, vice-world and European champion for the last two years and several times French champion.

Harsh laws of Aeolus

But now, after the disillusionment of the Tokyo Paralympic Games, in 2021, where he arrived as favorite and was picked off as soon as he entered the competition despite his status as favorite, he did not dare to aim too high in Paris. “Me, if I progress, if I beat my records, that’s enough for me. It doesn’t matter what’s going on behind he said to Libé a few days before the competition. Was it a bad feeling or excess modesty? Today’s scenario would make us lean more towards the first option. In front of sparse stands, Guillaume Toucoullet finally suffered the same fate as in Tokyo. The world number two was knocked out from the start by the Colombian outsider Hector Julio Raminez (6-4).

His shooting technique, standing with his mouth, did not pay off. Paralyzed in his left arm following a car accident, Toucoullet holds the bow outstretched with his right arm and holds a small leather tab attached to the string to release the arrow. A particularly demanding procedure on the neck and cervical areas, but also on the teeth. This Wednesday, it was not his teeth but the weather conditions that harmed him. “I don’t have a rear block, all it takes is a little wind [sa bête noire, ndlr]so that I move away and it’s over”, explained Toucoullet before the competition. To better understand his gesture, he shoots up to 500 arrows per day. But at the Invalides on Wednesday, he suffered the harsh laws of Eole.

The match started badly, he let the first two rounds slip away to the Colombian, who was more precise. But the Basque had warned during qualifying, it operates in “diesel” mode. So we believed it for a moment. An arrow in the 8 finally dampened his hopes. “I’m disappointed, this last arrow, I can’t understand why it’s so wide…Toucoullet said as he left the shooting range. I still lose on a 9-9-8, like in Tokyo, even though I am no longer the same man.”

Through the little door

The Frenchman indeed arrived with another status at home. His charisma, with his full beard, his backwards cap and his completely tattooed right arm, had attracted all eyes during the classification shots. Particularly those of Japanese journalists who asked him if he had Japanese tattoos. “More like Celtic symbols”, he replied. We easily attribute to this metal fan a little viking air. But appearance doesn’t make a man.

Toucoullet came to archery through the back door, during a forum of associations in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in 2017. What attracted him first: the “challenge» represented by shooting with the mouth. Until then, this sports fanatic practiced explosive disciplines, such as pelota and rowing with the French team. A ship that he leaves after being qualified and then excluded from the Rio Paralympic Games in 2016. “Coming from rowing, I thought archery was not a sport. I was a moron, he admits. Putting the arrows in the middle of the target is quite exhilarating.”

Just three months after starting, he was already on the podium of the French championships (3rd) and caught the eye of the federation. His trainer, Vincent Hybois, with whom he refines his actions on a daily basis, highlighted his side «hyperperfectionniste», which took him very quickly to the high level. “I fought to the end, even in the wind,” he ruminated this Wednesday. After six days of competition, the tricolor archery still has no medal, but the Basque is not the type to lament for too long. He hopes to correct the situation on Thursday, during the mixed team event, alongside Aziza Benhami.