At the end of the Games, which have occupied all their thoughts for months, the Paralympic athletes will return to their daily lives and, in the vast majority, to anonymity, but they assure that they are ready for it.
An atmosphere worthy of the greatest sporting events, a mini tricolour kop including for the match for France’s last place at 9:00 a.m. in goalball, a sport specific to the Paralympic world: the madness of the Games intoxicated the entire French delegation.
For these athletes, the adventure did not begin on August 28, the day of the opening ceremony. Even those most recently embarked on the Paralympic adventure had several weeks of training and preparation during the summer, when they have not checked the box of their competition for years.
But now they will never play a home Games again. And the atmosphere in future competitions will be much more bland.
The post-Games blues can affect anyone, able-bodied or para, unfortunate champion or crowned with glory.
In athletics, British wheelchair sprinter Samantha Kinghorn recalled: “I always thought that if I won a Paralympic medal I would be the happiest person in the world. And then I came back from Tokyo where I won medals and it didn’t make me any happier, it was strange,” she said after the third of her four medals won in Paris (one title).
For 2024, she changed her approach. “I really made sure to be the happiest person when I came into these Games,” she said, citing the importance of her loved ones and family.
To avoid another “blues”, the post-competition period has been planned with the programme, after a trip to Scotland, “going to see the Singapore Formula 1 Grand Prix” on 22 September.
– At work –
But for many, the reality will mean going back to work.
“I’m going back to work for Paris-2024, to thank all the volunteers who were fantastic. We have a little surprise for them,” explains para-judoka Nacer Zorgani, defeated in the bronze medal match on Saturday and an employee of the Games’ organizing committee.
He was able to see that “when we say that the best emotions in sport are during the Games, it is a reality.”
Then, it will be time to “focus on my stand-up show. It will be my convalescence, and we will see about my sporting and professional career afterwards”, says the Marseillais.
A historic member of the young French sitting volleyball team, which finished its competition on Wednesday, Olivia Lanes has planned “a week of vacation to recover” before returning to her daily life as a general practitioner.
“There will just be my children and when they are at school there will be no noise. Going back to work will be complicated,” she laughs.
In blind football, where the new Paralympic champions beat professional teams like Argentina and Brazil to the podium, some players “forgot to take their Monday off”, Gaël Rivière smiled on Saturday evening after the final.
Everywhere after the Games, the search for sponsors will continue to improve the conditions in which these high-level athletes practice.
Because beyond the daily grind, competition will also resume its rights, sometimes in the short term.
“I think there will still be a bit of a void with the silence, etc. But I won’t necessarily have time to think about all that, because I’m on the move,” describes the youngest player on the French goalball team, Melda Alhan, who is also a law student.
She and her teammates will have the European Championship to prepare for, an opportunity to take advantage of all the experience acquired at the Games against the world’s best nations.
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