shooting with the feet, with the mouth… In para archery, come as you are – Libération

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Multicoloured bob, Robin Hood-style feathered hat, cap with the name of one’s country, all styles of headgear parade on the shooting range of the Esplanade des Invalides. The bodies of the archers lined up since Thursday, September 29 are just as varied: tall, short, thin, strong, more or less muscular, amputated of one arm, one leg, both, in a wheelchair or standing. “As a famous brand would say, in para archery, it’s a bit like: “Come as you are”, sums up Vincent Hybois, the coach of the French team. Any person, whatever the nature of their deficit, will be able to come see us and we will find solutions so that they can practice.” A rare potential for inclusion, even for a Paralympic discipline.

Compound bow

The most telling example is probably the Indian Sheetal Devi, born without arms due to a rare congenital disease. The 17-year-old archer has the particularity of shooting with her feet and her mouth. An impressive gesture with which she chained the 10 in the center of the target, during the “open” compound bow event on Saturday, September 30, and aroused the astonishment of the public in the stands. Sitting on a stool, the world number one holds her bow with her right foot and places the string between her chin and her shoulder. She then releases her arrow with her teeth. “I really appreciate these girls who pull with their legs. You have to have strength in your toes, it’s very impressive,” “We are all very happy with our new archery,” says Frenchwoman Julie Rigault-Chupin, who competes in the same category, but standing with a prosthesis on her left leg. On the international circuit, Sheetal Devi remains for the moment the first and only archer without an upper limb.

Perhaps not for much longer. While the most severe handicaps were rare on the shooting range a few years ago, there are more and more of them today. In London in 2012, the American Matt Stutzman, nicknamed “the armless archer”, was the first to shoot with his feet and won a silver medal. In Paris, for its fourth Games, there are now four: three archers in the men’s category and Sheetal Devi. «To Los Angeles [JOP de 2028]we could double our numbers, with probably eight armless archers. That’s my gold medal», commented the pioneer on Thursday during the qualifications. On Sunday evening, he won gold.

“A multitude of techniques”

At the Paralympic Games, the “open” category, which includes a large number of physical disabilities, allows for this broad accessibility. Within it, two events are offered depending on the type of weapon used: the classic bow, the same as that used at the Olympics, or the compound bow, for archers who cannot maintain it under tension for a long time, such as Sheetal Devi, Julie Rigault-Chupin and Matt Stutzman. Then there are “a multitude of regulated techniques and arrangements” to adapt to the disability, specifies Vincent Hybois.

“We are all in the same category, it is an advantage and a disadvantage. But Devi has shown that you can be world number one with a heavier handicap. Proof that archery is within everyone’s reach.”observes Julie Rigault-Chupin, eliminated in the quarter-finals on Saturday September 30.

Guillaume Toucoullet, paralyzed in his left arm, thought that archery was not for him. Until he was told about an unusual technique: “The first time I tried, I was offered to shoot with my mouth, I found it incredible to be able to do something like that.” When he started out in 2017, the Basque was inspired by another American: Eric Bennett. The Arizonan improvised the move ten years earlier to continue hunting, after an accident and the loss of his right arm. In Paris, for his fifth Games since Beijing in 2008, there are now three of them shooting with their mouths. All with different techniques in terms of placement or positioning of the head. It was also with this move that Guillaume Toucoullet broke the Paralympic record, in the open recurve bow qualifications on Thursday, under the eyes of Bennett, who congratulated him.

“When it works, it’s a huge satisfaction”

The Frenchman worked on his technique for a long time to compensate for the deficit in his left arm with the strength of his neck. “At first, we didn’t really know where to put the tab (leather strap placed on the rope that he grabs with his teeth to pull)rembobine Guillaume Toucoullet. I took some ideas from what was already being done and I refined them at the club. It was only in 2019, when I arrived in the French team, that I really progressed on my shooting technique.” With Vincent Hybois, they thought about every detail to be ready on September 4 (the day of his individual competition), even making a final adjustment just a month ago.

“A big part of being a coach is inventing equipment and techniques so that a person with a disability can practice and improve constantly. When it works, it’s a huge satisfaction, even before the results,” explains Hybois, who first trained able-bodied people before devoting himself to the French disabled team. In close discussion with the archer, the coach “tinker, try and test” each system he imagines beforehand. Toucoullet, himself, shoots up to 500 arrows several days a week in training, to store up a maximum of repetitions and sensations. With constant specific monitoring on the cervicals “because it’s violent”, but also at the dentist.

The Frenchman, world number 1 and favourite in his category, hopes to inspire those who think that archery “is not a sport” or “is not for them”. Vincent Hybois, for his part, is certain: with imagination and creativity, everyone can practice. And “If one day someone comes to me to do archery and I can’t find a solution so that they can practice, I’ll stop this job.”