“It will be part of many memories that will be compiled in a few years!” We feel that Alexis Hanquiquant still has stars in his eyes when he tells France Bleu Normandie about this moment when he walked the red carpet, Tuesday May 21. Less than 100 days before the start of the Paris Paralympic Games (August 28-September 8), he was one of the four athletes who distinguished themselves at the Games who carried the Olympic torch to the Cannes Film Festival.
Gold medal in para-triathlon in Tokyo in 2021, he was accompanied by Arnaud Assoumani, Paralympic long jump champion in 2008 in Beijing, Nélia Barbosa, Paralympic vice-champion in kayaking in Japan, and Marie Patouillet, double bronze medalist in para-cycling in 2021. “I am very, very moved, very happy to have been able to participate in this with Tony Estanguet, with Arnaud, Marie and Nélia”he continues. “It remains very, very impressive this number of photographers. All these people who come to see personalities, these are other emotions than what we can experience in sport. I have discovered yet another universe, so It’s great. It’s clearly something magical, unique. Mixing the world of cinema, the world of culture with the world of sport, it was a “gamble” for Paris 2024. And my goodness, it’s. is a big success.”
“We are keen to highlight our performances to really try to change our mentality and our society on inclusion, on difference in the broad sense of the term”confides the one who comes from Yvetot, in the Pays de Caux. “This message was strong, to ask Paralympic athletes to carry the Olympic torch at the Cannes Film Festival. This leads to a great party this summer, we invited the world of culture to come and support us at the Olympic Games and Paralympics, because we will also need them to win great medals.”
