The young British swimmer, who has had her arms and legs amputated and who dazzles the Paris Défense Arena with her performances and personality, is also taking part in an awareness campaign.
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To crisscross Paris in all directions these days, according to the Paralympic disciplines, we come across the poster everywhere: three Paralympic athletes appear on it, we immediately recognize the Frenchman Théo Curin, 24 years old, quadruple amputee who became national glory, disabled sports champion, speaker, columnist, TV host, model, actor. On the poster, he rubs shoulders with a young girl in a wheelchair, also deprived of her forearms and legs up to above the knees, and a strapping man with prosthetic arms and legs.
He is Davide Morana, 31, an Italian parasprinter and speaker. She is Ellie Challis, 20, a British swimmer who sets the Paris Défense Arena alight. Competing in the S2 category (major disability of the lower, upper limbs and trunk), she won gold on Monday in the 50m backstroke, and is competing on Tuesday in the 100m freestyle. Her style is spectacular, characterized by the incredible speed of her stumps. In her first participation in the world championships, in 2019 in London, at the age of 15, she won a bronze medal. And her attitude completes the public’s transport: the one who arrives on a small adapted scooter, is ultra-smiling, joyful, in close proximity to the Brazilian phenomenon Gabriel Dos Santos Araujo. We also think of the sparkling Italian foil fencer Bebe Vio.
Amputated Dolphin
Théo Curin, Davide Morana and Ellie Challis have in common (like Bebe Vio) having survived fulminant meningitis. That is to say, an inflammation of the meninges, these thin protective membranes that envelop the brain and spinal cord. If it is not treated quickly, it can lead to death in less than twenty-four hours or cause serious after-effects.
Curin was struck down by the disease at the age of 6, Morana at 24, Ellie Challis at 16 months. The poster that brings them together is that of an awareness and prevention campaign that associates the Confederation of Meningitis Organisations (Como), the Meningitis Research Foundation (a leading international charity committed to the fight against meningitis) and Sanofi. Its slogan is “Athletes: 1. Meningitis: 0.” In the poster, Curin, Morana and Ellis carry a flag, blue, purple and yellow, designed to bring together patients, their families and supporters of the cause.
On Monday evening, after the podium in the 50m backstroke, Ellie Challis gave us a minute in the mixed zone. Still childish but with a straight look, she said this: “It’s very important for me to show people that no, life is not over when you’ve had meningitis, no matter how bad it is. You can still do great and beautiful things, which is what I try to prove when I swim.”The Mancunian came to swimming after seeing the children’s film The Incredible Story of Winter the Dolphin, in which a young boy befriends a dolphin whose tail has been amputated after being caught in the ropes of a crab trap, and who regains the will to live, once her rescuers equip her with a prosthesis. A tale inspired by a true story: moreover, Ellie Challis regularly visited the real Winter, at the Clearwater Marine Aquarium in Florida, until the cetacean’s death in 2021.
