Simon Ruben, edited by Manon Bernard 10:42 am, August 24, 2021

This Tuesday opens the Tokyo Paralympic Games.

With 138 athletes sent to Japan, France has many chances of medals: the Blues are aiming for 35 awards.

The Secretary of State to the Prime Minister responsible for people with disabilities, Sophie Cluzel, welcomed the increasing media coverage of the event.

INTERVIEW

France wants to do even better than the 28 medals won in Rio in 2016. Tuesday, the Tokyo Paralympic Games open in Japan. And this year, the French delegation is aiming for 35 medals to join the top 10 Paralympic nations. An extremely ambitious goal. The Blues will be carried in particular by the very versatile Marie-Amélie Le Fur, engaged in athletics in the sprint, the 400 meters, the long jump and already a medalist eight times since her first Games in Beijing in 2008. 

With 138 athletes, France is involved in almost all sports.

The French will compete in 19 disciplines including news such as badminton or taekwondo.

But beyond the medals, there is an essential stake for the future: to create a popular enthusiasm to wear all the disciplines.

"We are committed to carrying the colors of the flag high and making a few Marseillaises resonate," said tennis player Stéphane Houdet, flag bearer of the delegation.

"They are athletes above all"

The Secretary of State to the Prime Minister in charge of disabled people, Sophie Cluzel, is also delighted with the media coverage of the Tokyo Paralympic Games on Tuesday morning on Europe 1. "These para-sports can be as spectacular, they are new sports also that the citizens of the world know little about performances because they are athletes above all, ”she explains.

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"Following the London Olympics, we were able to experience the tremors of enthusiasm from around the world. Since then, press requests and broadcasts have only increased," recalls Stéphane Houdet.

Before adding: "I think it is an evolution of our society".

Objective: prepare for Paris 2024

Fetching these medals may be difficult, however.

The conditions in which the athletes are welcomed on Japanese territory are not the best: no visitors or accompanying persons because of the coronavirus.

"Families are very important for the support of para-athletes", worries Sophie Cluzel.

The second objective of these Games is to prepare the young athletes, present in Tokyo, for the Paris 2024 Paralympics. The ambition in the French capital will therefore be to "change the situation and the way we look. on these athletes "and have why not, says the Secretary of State," competitions shared between able-bodied and Paralympic athletes ".