With her victory in the BC1 category this Monday, September 2, the Norman player brings France its very first Olympic medal in the discipline. Her wish: to contribute to bringing her sport out of the shadows.
At the age of 27, during her very first Paralympic Games, Aurélie Aubert made history in her discipline, boccia (a cousin of pétanque), by winning the very first French Olympic medal in the discipline (1). Although she is ranked twelfth in the world and seventh in Europe, she unflinchingly took the upper hand over Singaporean Jeralyn Tan Yee Ting, world number 2, who had beaten her soundly in the group 6-1.
From the first throw, Aubert was on par and then better, with astonishing precision: first set won 2-0. In the second, her throws became more muscular with audacity, for example to knock out and take the “jack”, the equivalent of the jack: 3-0. But the Singaporean tightened the screws in the third salvo: 3-0. The fourth and final set, at 5 for Aubert and 3 for her opponent, suspended the breath in the Arena Sud, and the suspense lasted. Aubert was leading but on the fifth ball, the Singaporean managed to stick to the jack. And there, Aurélie Aubert, by tactical choice, decided not to play her three remaining balls. Daring. But she won her bet, the game ended 5-4.
In fact, it was not a tactical choice at all but an error, indicated Aurélie Aubert a few minutes later, in the “mixed zone” dedicated to exchanges with the media: “I thought he had no more bullets, I misread the display on the board, and I scared myself.” The champion then faces a forest of microphones and cell phones, a very rare occurrence in boccia. She highlights this indirectly, by hoping that “This medal allows for greater media coverage of boccia and to make this sport better known”. And to praise the noisy support of the spectators, which she discovered “very promising” while she initially feared it. In terms of qualities, Samuel Pacheco, coach of the French team, points out his “very good vision of the game, an ability to concentrate on each ball, to very easily enter her bubble, and she has progressed a lot in endurance”.
“Not stressed at all”
“I live, I eat, I sleep boccia”Aurélie Aubert often says. She praises a tactical game, similar to chess and curling. There is also an escape in the air. Suffering from cerebral palsy since birth, which manifests itself in particular by muscle spasms, involuntary movements and difficulty walking or moving, her autonomy is limited. Playing and winning changes the situation, gives her back the reins. However, the brand new Olympic champion often says that she came to boccia by default, for the love of chocolate: then a resident of the Richebourg rehabilitation center, in the Yvelines, Aurélie Aubert did not like the sport but the educators hooked her with the promise of lots of squares. Her first victories helped convince her to continue.
It was also in this center that she met the woman who became her boccia assistant, Claudine Llop Cliville, then a nurse. Claudine, who moves Aurélie Aubert’s chair, prepares her balls and gives them to her, says of their final: “From this morning, I felt good, not at all stressed., It’s extraordinary what she did, extraordinary.” This Tuesday, Aurélie Aubert will return to the South Arena for the team event. The Aubevoye (Eure) player is captain of the trio she forms with Fayçal Meguenni and Aurélien Fabre.
(1) Her compatriot Sonia Heckel was eliminated in her group matches in BC3.
Sign up to receive free our Libélympique newsletter every morning during the Paralympic Games.
Related News :