Par Mélina Le Corre
Published on 10 Feb 24 at 1:06 p.m. See my news Follow News Toulouse
“In my head, I am not disabled”, smiles Florence Delgal. In her little Blagnac house, the four-time French champion of parabadminton in doubles ladies still does not understand what we find exceptional about it. “I’m a normal person, everything I do is natural.”
Yet, the 57 year old teacher leads ten lives in one. Active in the Blagnac parabadminton association, mother, high-level athlete, school teacher and now… captain of the Olympic Flame relay for the 2024 Olympic Games in Haute-Garonne, Florence Delgal commands admiration.
Olympic Torch Relay Captain
“I didn’t expect it,” admits the parabadminton champion, licensed in Blagnac and still surprised by the news. It was the badminton federation which announced to her in January: she will be the captain of the Olympic Flame relay on May 17, 2024 in Haute-Garonne, in Stade Ernest-Wallon, In Toulouse. Florence Delgal will be surrounded by around thirty badminton players for this relay.
And in his life, nothing predestined him for this path. “I always played sport when I was younger, badminton at school, but never at a high level,” she says. It was through her children that she really discovered this racket sport. “The coach said to me: ‘you know you can play in a wheelchair? “So, I tried,” she smiles. Para badminton became his daily life. She will win four times the French championship in women’s doubles.
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A terrible car accident
A very disrupted daily life, November 1997. “I lost the use of my legs in an accident on a highway in the north of France, near Arras,” she says. It was foggy and there was a big pileup. I was a passenger. I had to stay in rehabilitation for a year.” Owner in the Paris region, the couple decided to change their lives and moved to Toulouse.
“I learned to live with my chair,” confides Florence Delgal. I remember very well, at that time, I was convinced that I would walk again, I walked the corridors of the hospital on my crutches.” At the age of 30, the young woman suffered a spinal fracture. “I am paraplegic, but no one told me that I would never walk again.” It was upon arriving in Toulouse that the sentence fell. “I thought my determination would be enough, but I took a hit.”
Teacher before becoming champion
His wheelchair becomes his life companion. “My husband was very supportive, I had a two-year-old daughter at the time and I wanted two more children! », laughs the Blagnacaise. This teacher joined the Mondonville school 23 years ago. “I could have stopped working and been completely unable to work, but I refused. For me, it’s normal to do my job like that,” she retorts.
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And “there are rules in class!” We move the schoolbags, otherwise I will run over them, smiles Florence Delgal. But I like sharing with my students, teaching from an armchair, it teaches them to live with everyone. I don’t see myself stopping teaching.” A determination which earned him the Legion of Honor in 2013, received “with great fanfare” in Paris by the Minister of Education at the time, Vincent Peillon. “It was a great source of pride, a family moment, very moving, very strong,” remembers the teacher.
“A sport in which you have fun quickly”
Two other children arrive at the Delgals and his daughters sign up for badminton. With them, Florence Delgal discovers a sport, a team, a new family. She played her first competition in 2012.
The first parabadminton section in Blagnac is created. “I was immediately supported, I met willing and determined people, it really touched me, I didn’t know the world of disabled sports at all.” THE first French Parabadminton Championship was created in 2014, launched by the French Federation. The mother won her first medal in women’s doubles.
“It’s a sport in which you have fun quickly without having incredible technique. There is sharing and surpassing oneself, that motivates,” explains the Blagnacaise. The next championship will take place in November 2024 in Villeurbanne.
A force of nature
Very involved in community life, Florence Delgal impresses with her strength her loved ones, her colleagues and even her students, who came to support her with banners and howls during the 2023 championship“one of the most beautiful moments of my career,” she says with emotion.
Despite the medals, the Legion of Honor and the title of captain, Florence Delgal wants to continue living her life “as naturally as possible, except that now, I ride”. The champion remains humble about her journey and does not hide daily difficulties. “But nothing has changed in my head, I still travel a lot, I go to concerts, you shouldn’t put any barriers in place, because this life is beautiful.”
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2024-02-10 13:45:23
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