athlete Dimitri Pavadé comes out – Libération

This is perhaps one of the most dizzying leaps he has had to make. Saturday September 7, Dimitri Pavadé, French athlete specializing in long jump, revealed his homosexuality. “Yes, I’m short, mixed race, one-legged, and to put it another way, gay!” wrote on Instagram the Réunionnais, fourth in his T64 category at the Paris Games. From now on, the Paralympic champion believes he has a «second fight to fight near [sa] LGBTQIA+ community”.

In his publication, mixing touches of humor and inspiring messages, the athlete says he waited for this moment “impatiently”. “Here I am today ready once again to face, overcome and move forward without taking into account what others may say or think of me”he writes. Before tackling homophobic speeches in passing: “The person that I am and like others, have never had to make a choice so stop with your pitiful speeches and your judgments without reasoning because you are never going to change the world.”

In the world of high-level sport, the gesture is still rare. So the silver medalist at the Tokyo Olympics took the opportunity to launch an appeal “to people still in the closet or to these high-level athletes who do not dare to live openly and freely this freedom which [leur] is due by law”. “Disability is not meant to be hidden or ashamed of, it is the same for your sexual orientation so embrace yourself as you are and remember that you are not alone,” notes the thirty-year-old.

“Thank you for being who you are”

To conclude his publication, Dimitri Pavadé recalls that “children and adults still commit suicide or are killed today”. The SOS Homophobia association estimates, for example, that young LGBT people are 2 to 7 times more likely to make one or more suicide attempts during their lives. “Don’t forget that those around you could one day be affected,” the athlete finishes.

On social networks, Dimitri Pavadé’s words were widely relayed. And greeted. Like judoka Clarisse Agbegnenou who congratulates him on his speaking skills: “Never change!!!! Thank you for being who you are”. Or the athlete’s teammate, Arnaud Assoumani, Paralympic long jump champion in Beijing (T46), who wrote to him in comments: “You were already an inspiration, today you become an icon and a role model for millions of other people.”