Often placed, never medaled, Tanguy de La Forest has finally warded off fate, rejoiced Gilles Muller, national technical director (DTN) of the French Shooting Federation, on Friday, August 30. For his sixth participation in the Games, the leader of the French para shooting team won his first Paralympic medal, silver in the 10m rifle shooting event, at the National Shooting Center (CNTS) in Châteauroux.
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This feat was therefore accomplished twenty years after his first Paralympic meeting, in Athens, in 2004. The Breton, originally from Rennes, has gained strength over the years, to the point of becoming five times world champion in the discipline.
“This shows that you have to work hard and keep believing in it.commented Tanguy de La Forest in the mixed zone after the medal ceremony. It’s a sport of experience, of confidence, you need a steely mind. It was hard not to win a medal for so long, but I proved that with perseverance, you can do it.”
On Friday, the French shooter was carried by a warm and colorful crowd, who loudly supported him throughout the day. “The atmosphere was crazyhe said. In the end, it exploded and it was wonderful. Days like that, I want more.” Leading for a long time in the final, he came very close to winning the gold medal.
“It really came down to nothing”reckons, her eyes still moist, her teammate Justine Bève, 27, also a rifle shooting specialist in the French para shooting team. After leading the race for a long time, the Breton finished just two tenths behind the Slovenian Francek Gorazd Tirsek, who, after a bad start, came back from the devil Vauvert to beat his competitors on the wire and win his first Olympic title, at 49, after collecting second places at the London, Rio and Tokyo Games.
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Aged 46, Tanguy de La Forest suffers from a genetic neuromuscular disease, infantile spinal muscular atrophy, similar to myopathy, diagnosed at the age of 3. His muscles are so weak that he cannot lift a bottle of water. He moves around in an electric wheelchair, which he controls with a joystick. He can also write and drive a car.
His disability does not prevent him from having an extremely active life. The Breton is at the head of two companies. With his brother Arnaud, he took over fourteen years ago the family business created by their father, which distributes promotional items to companies and employs fourteen people, in Rennes and Paris. With his sister Patricia, he also launched, in 2006, a recruitment agency specializing in workers with disabilities.
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