The police certainly did not expect this encounter when they were called to help a paraglider… who was none other than a figure in French rugby.
“Among the numerous interventions carried out by the gendarmes, there is one that is part of that which marks a career“: this is how the Réunion gendarmerie summarizes a rescue carried out on Monday November 11, 2024.
A rescue mission
On her Facebook page, she says she was deployed in the morning near Saint-Joseph. They are exactly the gendarmes of the aerial section and the high mountain peloton who are mobilized, to help a paraglider, in bad shape. Who is none other… than a figure of French rugby.
Marc Lièvremont rescued
In fact, the Reunion gendarmerie can't really believe their eyes: their protégés “don't imagine that they are intervening for the benefit of a rugby champion, former player and coach of the XV of France” : it's quite simply Marc Lièvremont who is rescued. “He became against his will a spectator alpine techniques deployed by the PGHM soldiers to help him,” the gendarmes wrote again.
“It’s exceptional to be here, alive”
More fear than harm, as evidenced by the group photo taken after “many efforts and strong emotions”. In an interview with Le Parisien following this rescue, the man who is now a consultant for Canal + explains that his sail “got caught in a tree, tore and I found myself perched above the void, 500 meters from the ground“. Hanging on a small branch, Marc Lièvremont, who escaped with a few scratches, admits to having “was very scared“and recognizes, after this rescue, having”was very lucky. It’s exceptional to be here, alive.”
France
