By Margaux Delanys
Published on
Milena Elder is salt marsh in Guérande (Loire-Atlantique). She is 24 years old and suffering from an orphan genetic disease.
In 2019, this athlete resumed badminton, after discovering a club in Saint-Molf where she lives.
Former tennis player, she prefers this discipline, “tennis was also my old life, when I was younger”.
Two years later, the young woman met Faustine Noël, Paralympic medalist at the Tokyo Games, during the French Championship and won the silver medal. Now she trains with Faustine every Friday.
Money for his first Championship
When I was playing tennis, I was very often injured. I spent my life thinking that I was fragile, until the diagnosis of my motor handicap.
Milena then learns about Para badminton and the eligibility criteria. In 2021, she met the Paralympic team coach Loris Dufay who offered her to register for the French Championships. That year, the competition took place in the region, in Carquefou. She will win the silver medal.
Milena remembers being “extremely well received”, even though no one knew her and receiving a lot of support from other players.
The French team has four female players and 15 male players, a difference she explains by psychological barriers.
Even if there is media coverage via the Paralympic Games, the general public knows little about disabled sport.
Objective 2024
Milena is getting ready for theSpain International Open from March 1 to 6, 2022. On the advice of a sports friend, she created a online kitty to help with the cost. Because without a sponsor, the young salt worker is forced to finance her classification: transport, hotel, Covid-19 tests and registration for the tournament.
The Paralympic competition is for the young athlete the moment when she will know if her handicap falls within the criteria defined by the International Paralympic Committee.
As for the tournament itself, I like competition, I did a lot of it when I was young. It’s really the classification that worries me. We only pass it once, it’s the stress of the starting point. If it doesn’t work, we have the right to an additional chance, that’s all.
In Para badminton, there are six categories: two for people in wheelchairs and four for people standing. My classification is SL4, that is to say that I have a leg handicap, but slight. We play on normal ground. The category below, SL3 plays on half court.
In the field,
I’m having trouble controlling my muscles. There is a miscommunication between my brain and my muscles, and sometimes there are blockages. It affects my travels.
Eugene, the helper dog
This is where Eugene, his assistance dog, comes into play.
At the end of the matches, he helps me to walk. It detects and anticipates my crises. For tournaments, it really makes me gain energy.
Milena adds that she has proprioception issues, which her White Swiss Shepherd was trained for.
The Paralympic Games,
it’s really a childhood dream: the podium, the anthem… And then there, it’s in Paris, at home, it’s really an incredible craze,
Especially since, according to her, “the conditions will really be met to perform. The public will be behind us, a French public”.
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