A big smile and tears: Aurélie Aubert, Paralympic Boccia champion, was able to move millions of French people during the Paris Games.
His smile will remain one of the striking images of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. At the beginning of September, while France was preparing for its return to school, Aurélie Aubert was able to conquer the hearts of millions of compatriots. A feat thanks to a gold medal in an extremely little-publicized discipline: boccia.
“It’s a sport that brings me pleasure because it requires strategy and it’s also played collectively. This sport allows me to meet people, to travel, to share my passion », Explains the 27-year-old Frenchwoman, born in 1997 with facial paralysis due to a lack of oxygen. Suffering from spasms and difficulty moving, she now uses a wheelchair.
“I didn’t feel capable of it”
For her, sport is a way to escape and live life to the fullest. So, in Paris, her ambition was necessarily to go far, very far… until the end, at the end of a final where she went through all the emotions. Overtaken by stress, and despite an error which could have cost her gold, Aurélie Aubert let her joy explode, a loud cry and tears heard by millions of French people.
For the young woman, who became a star overnight, directing was the most difficult. “CIt was a distant dream for me. I find it great to realize it now, I didn't feel capable of it, she confesses. Others yes, but not me. I'm someone who doesn't have much self-confidence, even talking to you takes a lot of effort. » A young woman who became a star, forever in the galaxy of French sport.
France
