European Championships at the beginning of August, then world championships at the end of the month and the Paris Olympics in a year. There is no shortage of deadlines for the French Paralympic judo team. An excitement that is felt this Tuesday, July 18 in the large dojo of the sports center of Temple-sur-Lot, where the athletes came to train for a week.
Here, athletes…
European Championships at the beginning of August, then world championships at the end of the month and the Paris Olympics in a year. There is no shortage of deadlines for the French Paralympic judo team. An excitement that is felt this Tuesday, July 18 in the large dojo of the sports center of Temple-sur-Lot, where the athletes came to train for a week.
Here, able-bodied and disabled athletes (visually impaired, blind or deaf) train together. “We recently set up a system of partners which allows an able-bodied athlete to accompany an athlete who is a member of the para team. He guides him, gets to know his needs and his habits… it’s learning and enrichment for both,” explains Antoine Hays, team director.
Optimal conditions
This accompaniment is especially necessary outside the tatami, to go to eat or to find oneself there in the large complex of La Base. Accommodation, canteen, weights room, sauna or hammam: everything is there. “It makes our life a lot easier, because one of our big problems is travel. However, here, everything is available on site,” explains the director. This course is therefore an opportunity to test this new partner system, but it also and above all allows us to regroup and train for the upcoming championships, because the team already has a good track record to honor.
Ten times world champion in para judo and multiple medalist at the Paralympic Games, Cyril Jonard, 47, deaf and visually impaired, is a good example. The athlete, who fights in valid and parasport, has been training since 2017 with Jason Guillot. For the past year, the latter has made training and supporting the Limousin prodigy his full-time job. “I’m going to win, you’ll see, I’m doing it for my children and my family,” says Cyril Jonard, revitalized, who has been waiting for the Olympic gold medal for twenty years.
Rising level
“For twenty years, the level has greatly improved,” says Sandrine Martinet. We have always done internships and been integrated with the able-bodied”, says this high-level judokate since 2002, specifying that the only real adaptation is the position of the hands at the start of the fight, already on the kimono. However, this course is the first to be dedicated specifically to para judo, a sign of recognition that progresses at the same time as the level and determination of its fighters. Gold medalist in Rio in 2014, this mother, a former physiotherapist, intends to show her daughter the reasons for her absences and her efforts, by winning first place at her 6th Olympic Games, which will take place at home.
Another specificity of para judo: mutual aid. Meetings are organized with the para canoe and para rowing teams who also train in the centre. They share their experience and their problems, which often come together, in a fine spirit of trust and solidarity.
2023-07-19 15:54:18
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