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We wanted one last shot. Make this summer of Olympic and Paralympic Games last again and again. The finish line is not far, but we refuse to cross it. Let these medals, these podiums, these cries of joy, these tears, these flags, this Phryge who gesticulates blissfully, and even this heady “auuuuuux Champs-Elysées” of the late Joe Dassin. Already nostalgic as the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games was only scheduled for this Sunday evening, we sat down early in the stands of the Champs-de-Mars Arena to follow the last day of para-judo of the Games, and get a last dose of what has made us vibrate in recent months. On the program: five French people on the tatamis, three medals, an excited audience, and misty eyes. Summary of a French day at the dojo.
Prescillia Lézé, learning
Not sure that Clarisse Agbegnenou’s words of comfort when leaving the tatami are enough to fill Prescillia Lézé’s pain. Saturday morning, the 25-year-old French judoka suffered two quick defeats, putting an end to her dreams of a Paralympic medal for her first Games. Crossed with her eyes still wet in the mixed zone, the European champion in 2023 debriefs: “I tried to be more enterprising in the repechage but unfortunately I didn’t follow through with my attack, and I paid for it in cash.” Twice, the judoka was countered while she was starting her movement. His coach, Camille Bresse: “She comes aggressive but in judo, you have to fall, that is to say you put yourself in a vulnerable position and you can be surprised. There, there is perhaps a little haste.” And the coach announces the color of the coming weeks: “Now vacation, and then we’ll come up with a plan of attack to bring one back in four years.”
Cyril Jonard, longevity
The French nugget Hélios Latchoumanaya was only 4 years old when Cyril Jonard won the grail in Athens. At almost 50 years old, the man who named his daughter Athena is still there, on the tatamis of Paris and is once again on a Paralympic podium, two decades later. Blind and deaf – he is a multi-medalist at the Deaflympics, the world competition reserved for deaf people – Jonard was the first Frenchman of the day to enter the tatami, while a good number of the seats in the Arena are still empty. And Limougeaud’s morning with boxer banter was really long. After almost eighteen minutes spent on the mats in three fights, he saw his dream of a final shattered against the British Daniel Powell, after an interminable golden score. “It’s very frustrating, his wife Cécilia slipped in to us during the lunch break. But he has extraordinary strength. We have the proof two hours later, in the small finale. Cyril Jonard, who communicates using sign language, drawn by the fingers of his coach Jason Guillot on the palm of his hand, manages to immobilize his Uzbek counterpart, Turgun Abdiev to do ippon. Stoic since the start of the day, we see him jubilant like a kid on the tatami, until he begins the start of Macarena in front of the cameras, before jumping into the arms of Sandrine Martinet, who returned to the Champ-de-Mars to support her friends after winning silver on Thursday.
Jason Grandry, the wounded in bronze
His day started with an exploit, then a cold shower. For his entry into the running, Jason Grandry defeated Ilham Zakiyev, more than 150 kilos on the scale, and one of the favorites in the + 90kg category. The Breton, hyper mobile, managed to increase the penalties for non-combativeness on his opponent, to the point of winning. Heading to the semi-final… And elimination in sixteen seconds. “I wanted to go quickly, but his hand was in a better position than mine,” says the judoka with a Viking look, tricolor braids tied on his head. For him, on the occasion of his first Games, it will therefore be the small final, in the afternoon. And another express fight, but this time in his favor. After twenty-nine seconds, the judoka also knocks down his Turkish opponent “a big baby”. “I have a loose knee [il n’a failli pas être présent aux Jeux en raison d’une luxation du ménisque, ndlr]I was still doing MRIs two days ago. This medal is eight years of sacrifice. testified Grandry, a tremor in his voice after his bronze medal.
Hélios Latchoumanaya, a step too high
“The key for the final is his mobility.” This is the weapon that was to transform the bronze in Tokyo into gold in Paris during the final against the Ukrainian Oleksandr Nazarenko, explained Hélios Latchoumanaya’s club coach, Cédric Margalejo. His protégé had just won his first two fights, not without difficulty. “The first was difficult, but that’s normal, when you enter a competition of such importance, you cannot be released from the start,” Margalejo analyzed. Supported by a clan that came in large numbers from the southwest, recognizable by a t-shirt bearing his image, the native of Tarbes seemed more relaxed in the semi-final, performing two clean movements, notably a sacrifice technique to send his opponent flying. on him and do ippon.
Fired up by a (re)appearance of Olympic star Clarisse Agbenenou on the tatami, the French supporters welcome Hélios Latchoumanaya, in the final, like a gladiator arriving in the arena. Imperturbable, the double world champion and European champion steps onto the tatami to write the most beautiful page of his young career. “The pressure doesn’t get to him, he’s such a cool person, he knows how to manage,” warned his coach. But as in Tokyo, it is once with this infuriating bitterness that Latchoumanaya closes her Paralympic tournament. Falling upon a slight movement from the Ukrainian after forty seconds, the Frenchman fought, to the point of determination, to catch up at the scorer’s table. In vain. “I only had gold in mind, it’s a huge disappointment, especially given the appearance of the fight. I make a small mistake, and even if I regain the upper hand of the fight, I can’t bring him down again. It’s the little details that make the gold escape me.” observed, dejected, the judoka after his fight.
Nacer Zorgani, the handyman
Two fights and a chocolate medal. Subtlety of certain categories, Nacer Zorgani qualified for the small final of + 90kg (J2, for visually impaired people) after his morning defeat without going through the repechage box, his category having only seven registered. Practicing numerous martial arts – karate, kickboxing, boxing, taekwondo, ju-jitsu – the 38-year-old judoka returned to judogi in 2022. And this passion for fighting allowed him to participate, in his own way, in the Olympic Games: “I was the voice of boxing during the Olympics: I presented 235 fights and 13 victory ceremonies, he detailed a few days ago. It was a training for me, I got used to the music, the screams, the light, I had the chance to see what awaited me. A repetition which was not enough for the colossus of a thousand lives – born in Algeria, he was, among other things, a student of philosophy, a comedian and an employee in finance – who failed to add the line “Paralympic medalist” on his CV.