She won’t have time to attend the opening ceremony, nor the closing ceremony. No matter. Lot-et-Garonnaise Catherine Gastou knows the music, she who is preparing to participate in her fourth Paralympic Games. She will once again don her referee’s cap for the paracycling events on the track and on the road.
“I will be on the panel of national commissaires. I will be in charge of coordination and all the administrative aspects. I will be in charge of registering all the paperwork, making the starting orders, establishing and making the results official,” she explains. “It’s true that you won’t see me on the front line, but it’s essential work for the smooth running of the race.”
“I hope that the enthusiasm that there was for the Games in Paris will also be useful for the Paralympic Games”
Media coverage on the rise
Since Monday, August 26, Catherine Gastou has been in the capital to take part in the final meetings before the start of the Parisian competition before heading to the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome and joining the team of sixteen commissaires needed to ensure the track events run smoothly. At the beginning of September, she will also officiate on the urban circuit where the contenders for the Paralympic road titles will be decided.
After having experienced Beijing (2008), Rio (2016) and Tokyo (2021), the Lot-et-Garonnaise referee with the International Cycling Union (UCI) is preparing to experience her fourth Paralympic competition, this time at home, and on the back of the popular success of the Olympic Games. “I hope that the enthusiasm there was for the Games in Paris will also be useful for the Paralympic Games. Having seen the evolution, I think that the media coverage is on the rise. In fact, even if we think that it is still less important than the “able-bodied” Games, we can see that there is progress, especially since the London Games. And then, the general public is more interested in it. Before, it was a little more confidential.”
The referee has been involved in disabled sport for many years.
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Hands on training
Including at the refereeing level. It took time for international bodies to look into the issue and decide to get up to speed. In the early 2000s, Catherine Gastou joined the first training courses dedicated to the specificities of disabled sport and, in turn, trained officials. A job that began well before these Games, whether Olympic or Paralympic. “I’m not alone, but I’m part of the movement and I think I contribute a lot to this. It’s true that for the Cycling Federation, it’s a challenge to show that the French school is up to standard… Because you don’t prepare referees like that, it’s not a spontaneous generation. It’s a long-term job. You need to have people who are competent.” This is how Grégori Maury, a young referee from Agen, was able to take part in the track cycling events during these Olympic Games.
Chrono 47 in Bruch
7e edition. The team time trial returns for a round on May 2, 2025. The race will still crisscross the roads of Albret and will have the town of Bruch as its starting (and finishing) village. The Chrono 47, a team time trial event supported by Catherine Gastou and the Guidon Agenais club, is the support for three rounds of the Coupe de France for the men’s, women’s and junior categories.
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