OObjective achieved. On the morning of the last day of competition at the Paralympic Games, Sunday, September 8, the French sports leadership was all smiles. With 75 medals, including 19 titles, the French Paralympic team achieved its goal: to enter the top 8 of the medal rankings.
So of course for Claude Onesta, high performance manager at the National Sports Agency, there is “a lot of pride” when it comes to taking stock. Marie-Amélie Le Fur, the president of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee, hails a “result that lives up to the ambitions we had set for ourselves”. “We have tripled the number of medals compared to Rio in 2016 and we have twice as many golds as eight years ago,” she says.
Cycling, shooting and swimming stood out at the Games
There are many reasons to be satisfied when taking stock: French paracycling particularly shone, bringing nearly 40% of the French podiums. Parashooting also distinguished itself with three medals, including one title. The results are also positive for paratriathlon and paraswimming.
With 75 podiums, France is back to the standards it had in the past. “When we look at the history of medals, until Sydney we were among the pioneering nations with 105 medals in Barcelona in 1992. Then, there was a long time until Tokyo where we were falling back because everything was becoming international and professional […] Read more
