Cécile, peacekeeper, and Régis, gendarme, both in Limoges, will be in the security bubble to take the Olympic flame to Paris on July 26. Crossed portrait of two sports lovers.
They didn’t know each other a few months ago. Two weeks before embarking on the great adventure, she calls him “uncle”.
She is Cécile, 44 years old, peacekeeper at the Limoges police station and sports fanatic: football, boxing, mountain biking.
He is Régis, 52 years old, gendarme at the multimedia production center in Limoges, and on the initiative of the “jepretemesjambesà” association which organizes each year a charitable running race across France for disabled children.
In the foreground for the flame
On May 8, in Marseille, they will each have “left their respective tunics in the locker room”, and under the same uniform, will be part of the “runners”, these police forces integrated into the security system for the Olympic torch relay and Paralympic. Their common mission?? Protect and secure the Olympic flame and its bearers until its arrival in Paris on July 26.
“I can’t wait to be there,” smiles Cécile. For me, it was natural to apply to be part of this safety bubble. This spirit of cohesion, of respect, these Olympic values, I fully see myself there. » “It’s realizing a sporting dream,” adds Régis. Running alongside the flame is a way of actively participating in the Olympic Games, it is being an actor in our own way. »
“An adventure that will never happen again”
For two and a half months and 68 stages, they will complete 20 km per day in a bubble which will travel at 4 km/h. “By pure chance, we will be in pairs, we will run together (400 police forces will take turns throughout the course like the Tour de France and its caravan) to constitute this first link of security and avoid any overflow », specifies Régis.
Cécile, a field worker with police-rescue operations and originally from Poitiers (Vienna), dreamed of it: “I was exposed to sport, I followed sports training at Staps (sciences and techniques of physical and sporting activities). ) from Poitiers, and for me, it is a unique human and professional adventure that will never happen again. » Régis, a mobile gendarme who became a reporter for the gendarmerie, says he is delighted to pass, exceptionally, to the other side: “The Olympics are the Holy Grail. Usually, I run to defend a cause, to make these diseases visible. This is another adventure. For once, being on the other side of the camera is just great?! “.
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Play it like Marie-José Perrec
And both are ready to fight. Ready to travel through French towns and countryside to protect this symbol and represent their profession. “Our profession means that we are trained, and that sport is part of our daily life,” adds Cécile, who as a child marveled at Marie-José Perrec, and who now identifies with the players of the French team. women’s football.
A departure in Marseille, an arrival in Paris. And Haute-Vienne, there, somewhere in their minds, for these lovers of the region. “The Paralympic flame will pass through Limoges on August 26 and we will be there*. It’s a nice wink,” rejoices Régis.
A “marriage” of circumstance between the police and the gendarmerie, where everyone does not forget what they were selected for. “Be vigilant, make sure that this beautiful flame does not fade. » The one in their eyes when they talk about their adventure is not about to fade away.
* As a reminder, the Department had declined the offer from the National Olympic and Sports Committee to host the passage of the Olympic flame in Haute-Vienne, due to the cost, €180,000 deemed “exorbitant”.
Thibaut Dailler
