“I didn’t have a very simple life”, gold medalist Aurélie Aubert still savors her “revenge”

Paralympic boccia champion during Paris 2024, Aurélie Aubert returns to L'Équipe on her recent comments concerning her new notoriety.

No, Aurélie Aubert does not regret her gold medal. Although she said she missed her “life before”, the French Paralympic boccia champion took advantage of a long interview at The Team to clarify his comments on his sudden gain of notoriety after Paris 2024.

“As someone who is discreet, I just find it very strange to be approached in the street or a store for a selfie. I can no longer be natural in my life,” explains the 27-year-old young woman, who takes her sporting achievement as a “revenge” for his cerebral palsy.

“Everyone focuses on my disability, so what?”

But when she elaborates again, it's with nuance: “I didn't have a very simple life, I can say that… But what I did wasn't that special. Everyone focuses on my disability, so what? I was born like that, I don't see it anymore.

A way of thinking that fits perfectly with the reasoning of his coach and life assistant. “For me, disability doesn't exist. Aurélie is a high-level athlete like the others, I won't pass anything up to her. Self-pity is not possible,” confides Claudine Llop Cliville.

Aurélie Aubert became the first French Paralympic medalist in the history of her discipline on September 2, by winning against Singaporean Jeralyn Tan Yee Ting. “It represents years of work and I hope that boccia will be more publicized and better known in France,” declared the champion, for whom it was the first international title of her career.