One cries with sadness, the other smiles with intoxication. On Saturday, August 31, the 400m freestyle – reserved for visually impaired swimmers – brought conflicting emotions to the Portal brothers. Alex, 22, won silver behind the untouchable Ihar Boki – winner in 3 min 58 sec 37 –, and his younger brother, Kylian, 17, won bronze. Alex Portal had hoped so much to beat the Belarusian tsar, his bête noire, crowned for the 19e times during the Paralympic Games.
Near the warm-up pool, the little brother took his older brother in his arms, inconsolable. “I would have loved to be able to offer us a Marseillaise, it’s sport… (…) I should have “killed” the race earlier, but the Belarusian was very strong,” the Paralympic vice-champion whipped himself.
Already a silver medalist on Thursday in the 100m butterfly and bronze on Friday in the 100m backstroke, Alex Portal found his smile again during the official ceremony, in front of a sea of tricolour flags and the two signs representing their two faces. “We took full advantage of the podium with Kylian, I’m so proud of him, of his time, of what he did, it’s huge. He fully deserves it.”
In the series on Saturday morning, he took his younger brother in his wake, for his Paralympic baptism. In the final, Kylian Portal swam the “50 m of his life” on the eighth and final length of this 400m to be the third to touch the wall. “I said to myself: ‘This is my moment, in front of the crowd in Paris, I have to.’ A podium with my brother is incredible, I’m so proud of what we did with Alex. I really want to do it again,” launched the teenager, who has two other races left at these Games: the 100m freestyle (on September 4), and the 100m butterfly (on September 7).
A thunderous ovation
As soon as they entered the stage, the two brothers, wearing scarlet red bucket hats bearing the image of Phryge – the mascot of Paris 2024 – on their heads, received a thunderous ovation from the 15,000 spectators at the Paris La Défense Arena. In the pool, the two Parisians took full advantage of this “home” advantage. In Alex’s case, the formula is totally justified, since the future renewable energy expert is studying at the Ecole supérieure d’ingénieurs Léonard-de-Vinci, 600 meters from the Nanterre swimming site.
Every day, before and after their classes, the two brothers train in the lanes of the Dôme de Saint-Germain-en-Laye, in Yvelines, the birthplace of the family. “Their complicity is what makes them strong. Kylian is a bit of a firefighter, he tends to be a bit more exuberant than his brother, Alex, who is more reserved, more measured,” describes Guillaume Domingo, performance manager of the French para swimming team.
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