The three swimmers offered several trinkets to the French delegation this Tuesday, August 3. A total that they could still improve in the coming days.
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That’s done, Guillaume Domingo must be thinking. Before the Games, invited to make a prediction by the media, the head of para-swimming performance at the French Para-Sports Federation suggested the following: “Winning ten medals is reasonably possible, but the competition is tough and the Olympics remain a special competition.” On Tuesday evening, Ugo Didier and Alex Portal (both silver), and Laurent Chardard (bronze) leveled the counter. Ten medals exactly.
Ugo Didier was the first to line up, in the 100m backstroke in the S9 category. We hoped for a comeback, like the one he inflicted on his great rival, the Italian Simone Barlaam, on 29 August in the 400m freestyle. But the Toulouse native was unable to completely make up the deficit after a very average start as is often the case, due to the weakness of his legs (he was born with club feet, atrophied muscles and no calves). Fourth at the turn, the Cugnaux-licensed athlete who also trains in the Dauphins du Toec club (Toulouse Olympique Employés Club) where he was able to rub shoulders with Léon Marchand, picked up the pace, gained places, but not enough: victory for the Belarusian Yahor Shchalkanau, who is racing under a neutral flag (1). But the 22-year-old engineering student is also a good accountant: “In Tokyo I was fourth, so it’s still a nice medal”. Still something gained, in short. He still has the 200 medley, this Wednesday, to get another taste of gold.
Alex Portal, for his part, is not disappointed with his silver medal in the 200m medley, his final race in Paris. He smiles as he leaves the pool: “Three silver medals and one bronze [décrochées dans ces Jeux, ndlr]I’m not going to complain”. Nothing to do with his reaction after his second place in the 400m freestyle in the S13 category (visually impaired), from which he left in tears. It was already, again, facing the monument Ihar Boki. This Tuesday, the Belarusian swimmer once again demonstrated his stratospheric domination, in a race that he led from start to finish with a fluidity that was not far from poetic: he slides, he wins. Result, a fifth gold medal in these Paris Games, his 21st Olympic title, which confirms his rank as the most successful male para-athlete of all time.
Laurent Chardard, for his part, is delighted with the bronze obtained in the 50 m butterfly in the S6 category. Given his power, we thought that the world champion would be able to stop the Chinese Jingang Wang. But he does not have a goldfish memory and recalls: “I’m a little disappointed of course but in Tokyo, I came fourth, so just to bring home a medal, I’m happy, and then there are my friends, my family who came from Reunion, even guys from work”. The 39-year-old swimmer from Pessac (Gironde), whom we met in June, is a sharer, who systematically emphasizes how much his loved ones have counted in his convalescence and his new life: the surf fan had to have his right leg and arm amputated in 2016, following a shark attack in Reunion, his native island whose flag he flew in Paris La Défense Arena. He will return to the competition on Thursday, in the 100 meters freestyle.
(1) Russia and its ally Belarus were banned from the Olympic and Paralympic Games following the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Athletes were allowed to compete (but not participate in ceremonies) under certain conditions, after an investigation proved that they had not actively supported the war in Ukraine.
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