A supposed support on the inside line of the corridor during the 400m in 2016 – which he claims does not exist “no image” –, an injury the same year in the semi-final of the 100m which ruined what was supposed to be “a formality” and the link slipping from his guide’s wrist 45 centimeters from the line while he was leading his 400m heat in 2021. All of these misadventures happened to Timothée Adolphe during the Paralympic Games.
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In Paris, Sunday 1is September, he was the big favourite for the T11 category for the visually impaired, where he had dominated the heats and semi-finals. And while he and his guide Jeffrey Lami were finally heading towards a long-awaited victory, Venezuelan competitor Enderson Santos Gonzalez came out on top at the last minute, beating his personal best to spoil the Frenchman’s party (50.58 seconds against 50.75 seconds for the Tricolour). “It’s a lot of disappointment and frustration. We’re not producing the race we wanted. I was the weak link in the duoreacted Timothée Adolphe. We had announced that we were aiming for gold. We wanted to live up to the public’s expectations.”
Eight years, three attempts and a string of bad luck that almost make him the sporting equivalent of Pierre Richard’s character in The Goat: “For a moment, the white cheetah [le surnom donné par son ex-coach burundais Arthémon Hatungimana] turned into a black cat”he joked in mid-August in an interview with Monde.
A quest that obsesses him
At the Stade de France, the French sprinter had only one goal: to break his Paralympic curse by finally winning his first gold medal. A quest that obsesses him. In 2019, this amateur rapper even sang about it in his song Olympus : “My dream is not dead, to win gold. I will erase my falls by putting the eraser.”
Five years later, Timothée Adolphe, six-time European champion and 2019 world champion, has still not added to his list of achievements the title that would crown his incredible career. The evening took a strange turn when the podium was postponed to Monday, following a complaint filed by the French clan, for a tow of their athlete by the Venezuelan guide. It was refused, as was the appeal, by the race stewards. In truth, the main person concerned did not want it himself: “We know that a disqualification is traumatic, we don’t wish it on them. »
The title dreams are not over yet, since on Thursday, September 5, he should have another chance in the 100m final. An event in which he is the reigning vice-champion and where he is also the favorite with the best time of the entrants in 2024, 11.05 seconds. We no longer dare to predict anything, perhaps the best way to avoid bad luck.
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