A brilliantly defended title. Crowned Paralympic champion for the first time in his career in Tokyo in 2021, Alexandre Léauté achieved a magnificent double, three years later. Pushed by the Vélodrome de Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines, the French para-cyclist won gold in the individual pursuit (3,000 m) in category C2. Opposed to the experienced Belgian Ewoud Vromant (40 years old), the Breton, who started much stronger, won in 3′26′'015, more than 2′' ahead of his rival.
Although he did not improve his world record in the final, Léauté completed a fine collection that already included a gold medal, a silver and two bronze, all won in Japan. Happy and relieved, the man with 19 world champion titles could not hold back his emotion after his success: "It's magical. It was so hard, I suffered so much to get here," said the now double Paralympic gold medalist on France TV.
After a first day with two medals, the French contingent experienced a real harvest this Friday, with six new medals won. A few moments after Alexandre Léauté's victory, Tanguy de la Forest went to get a liberating silver in the 10m rifle shooting (SH2). Beaten by two tenths by the Slovenian Francek Gorazd Tirsek, the para-shooter quickly consoled himself, he who was chasing a Paralympic podium for his sixth participation.
On the para-swimming side, Alex Portal, bronze in the 100m backstroke (S13) the day after his second place in the 100m butterfly, and Hector Denayer, silver in the 100m breaststroke (S9) brought the number of medals won by French swimmers to four. Dominated in the semi-finals of the MD4 men's doubles tournament by the Korean pair Jang/Park, Fabien Lamirault and Julien Michaud launched the 2024 Olympic Games of French para-table tennis by bringing home bronze, before turning to their ambitions in the singles.
The last medal came late in the evening and is to the credit of Djelika Diallo. The young para-taekwondo player went for a historic silver in her discipline, coming up against the Brazilian Anna Carolina Silva de Moura in the final. Previously, the 19-year-old Frenchwoman had distinguished herself by eliminating the Danish legend Lisa Kjaer before beating the Chinese Yinan Yao at the end of an exceptional comeback.
Victorious against Ukraine (3-0) this Friday in men's sitting volleyball, Iran made an impression with the quality of its match, but especially with the size of one of its athletes: Morteza Mehrzad, a 2m46 giant. The tallest Paralympic athlete in history and the second tallest man on the planet, the Rudsar native is aiming for a third Paralympic gold medal in Paris.
During the Olympic Games, the show "Quelles Jeux!" became a must-see event. The France 2 talk show, co-presented by Léa Salamé and Laurent Luyat and launched especially for the event, managed to find its audience over the days.
Although it did not escape some criticism at the beginning - particularly regarding the presence of many celebrities - the program was able to get back on track by offering a more sport-oriented event. Thus, each evening, the presenters welcomed the French athletes who had won medals of the day onto the set. The opportunity for viewers to continue the euphoria caused by the French successes but also to get to know the athletes and their careers better.
This Thursday, August 29, Léa Salamé and Laurent Luyat relaunched the show on the occasion of the Paralympic Games. Thus, the duo will be live every evening again from the Club France located in La Villette for the duration of the competition.
For this first dedicated to the event, the two presenters welcomed a host of guests including Tony Estanguet, the president of the Paris 2024 Games Organizing Committee, Michaël Jérémiasz, head of mission of the French delegation of Paris 2024, Théo Curin, former para-swimming champion turned TV presenter (he will soon take over the controls of the game "Slam" on France 3), the actress Elsa Zylberstein, but also the consultant Stéphane Diagana, Béatrice Hess, the most decorated French para-swimming athlete of the Paralympic Games or the para-swimming consultant Charles Rozoy.
Everyone talked about the French performances on this first day of competition. Three Frenchmen won medals: Marie Patouillet won silver in track cycling, Ugo Didier won gold in the 400-meter freestyle (S9 category) and Alex Portal won silver in the 100-meter butterfly (S13). However, none of them were received on the stage.
A surprising absence for fans of the program, accustomed to seeing the heroes of the day arrive in "What a Game!" but easily explained: the three medal-winning athletes are still engaged in several events in the coming days and cannot afford to be present in such a late program.
