The upcoming Olympic Games arouse great enthusiasm and hopes among participants and spectators. They also bring back a lot of memories and nostalgia for those who had the chance to participate and especially to win medals.
Pierre Cathelineau is one of them and he remembers with emotion the 1980 Paralympic Games in Arnhem, Holland. He brought home the team gold medal and the individual silver medal in table tennis. What a memory too, his return and the triumphant welcome from Niort then the reception at the Élysée by the President of the Republic!
Top athlete at 51 after losing a leg
This medal was, at the age of 51, the crowning achievement of a long journey of stubbornness and courage, after a scooter accident which led to the amputation of his leg, when he was 35 years old. Born in 1929, he joined the Rouvereau painting company at the age of 13 as an apprentice, where he ended up as an associate.
Although then working 60 hours a week, he started a family and practiced gymnastics, which led him to participate in the “Circus without Big Top” created in 1949 by Pierre Martin with passionate gymnasts. Very sporty, he also practices table tennis and appreciates the conviviality of meetings between players.
Two years of convalescence
Unfortunately, in 1956, the consequences of his accident immobilized him for more than two years, between the time spent in the Bordeaux hospital and that of rehabilitation after the fitting of a prosthesis. Very quickly, he returned to work and was even named best worker in France in 1964, before being awarded a silver medal by the Ministry of Labor in 1979 and then a vermeil medal in 1985.
At the same time, he resumed gymnastics but, after coming close to an injury to his good leg, he decided to devote himself to table tennis. He then accumulated awards and, with his partner Chassagne, he was selected for the Games during the national championships in Tours.
He will then prepare actively but without a coach or trainer even though he is among the oldest competitors. The Games were to take place in Moscow but, after the refusal of the Soviets, it was ultimately in Arnhem in Holland that the events took place.
Up to 88 years old
After his victory, Pierre Cathelineau became involved as a volunteer in Ping handi, becoming deputy technical director of the French Handisport Federation until 2008, while being an active vice-president of Art and sport.
He continued to play table tennis until he was 88 years old. Today, he lives alone, independently in the house he built himself in Magné, when he was already disabled.
