Paris (AFP)

"I have been living through the Games for several weeks": 100 days before the start of the Paralympic Games in Tokyo, the French athletes entered the final sprint after a preparation which required a lot of adaptation.

As for the sprinter and long jumper Manon Genest, who will experience her first Games (August 24 - September 9), the "real deadline" is fast approaching for the delegation.

Despite growing concerns in Japan about the Covid pandemic, there is no question of a cancellation.

Qualified thanks to his fourth place in length at the 2019 Worlds in Dubai, the athlete, hemiplegic since 2015, took advantage of the extra year to "improve" in the discipline, which she started late.

"Now (...) we know the conditions (of organization), it helps to project", she told AFP.

Especially since some competitions, such as the Dubai Grand Prix in February, allowed him to familiarize himself with stadiums without an audience - and to improve the European record in his category with a jump to 4.60 meters.

- A year and a half without competition -

In the misfortune of the health crisis, the 28-year-old Castelroussine was able to take advantage of the resources of the national and international athletics federations, which is not the case for all disabled sports.

"Since the French championships in February 2020, I have not done a competition," explains Sonia Heckel, qualified in Boccia, a practice similar to pétanque.

With her partner Samir Vanderbeken, the 2019 European team champion will be the first French representative in Boccia at the Paralympics.

Its preparation was truncated by the difficulties to find an open gym during confinement, but "every month, the France team organized a training course of a few days", she says.

The additional year of waiting seemed long for the 31-year-old Nancy, in a wheelchair since the age of 12 and who has been watching the Paralympic Games for a long time.

“To be on the same team as (the three-time Paralympic athletics champion) Marie-Amélie Le Fur is an honor, I never would have believed it,” she marvels.

The absence of competition was also felt for the table tennis player Florian Merrien, 34, triple Olympic medalist including a title in 2008 and bronze in 2016. He will play his first competition for more than a year at the French championship of table tennis in Maizieres-lès-Metz (Moselle) from May 22 to 24, even if "the atmosphere and the confidence" within the French team during the numerous courses have helped it to remain competitive.

"There are still gray areas in the organization, but I don't know if Japan themselves know how it's going to go. I'm focusing on table tennis," he said.

To speed up its preparation, it is counting in particular on the opening of table tennis clubs provided for by the health relief measures put in place.

- 100 athletes awaiting qualification -

At 100 days of the Games, "only a third of the 150 athletes" who should make up the French delegation have their ticket in their pocket for the competition, details to AFP Jean Minier, the head of mission of the Tokyo paralympic and French sports committee.

For others, like 24-year-old sprinter Dimitri Jozwicki, the next few weeks will be crucial.

After missing for seven hundredths the direct qualification over 100 meters, given to the six best performers between April 2019 and 2021, he must now convince the athletics commission of the French disabled sports federation to grant him one of the quotas in his possession.

Second best performer in 2020, first in 2021, he hopes to seal his place with a solid time at the European Championships in Bydgoszcz (Poland) from June 1 to 5 or at the French Championship in Albi (June 12-13).

"I am not the only athlete, there will inevitably be disappointments," he worries.

To prepare, he chose to work only four days in May at Pole Emploi, where he is an occupational therapist.

"I have an agreement that allows me to work part time, paid full time. I can allocate the days in the year as I want, so I will catch up at another time."

© 2021 AFP