Maintenance. Paralympic champion in the 100m (London-2012), 400m and long jump (Rio-2016), Marie-Amélie Le Fur was re-elected on July 5 at the head of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF). Before going to defend her title at length at the Tokyo Paralympic Games (August 24 to September 5), she returned for The world on the ambitions of the French Paralympic delegation and on the importance of sport for people with disabilities.
How many medals are you expecting for the France team in Tokyo?
The main objective is to put France back on an upward slope. We hope to get at least 35 medals in Tokyo [contre 28 aux Jeux de Rio, en 2016]. This is realistic in view of the density of international competition and consistent with the place of French athletes in international results.
Doesn’t this lack ambition when France had 45 medals in London, in 2012, and 52 in Beijing, four years earlier?
This is a higher target than Rio’s record. I don’t find it lacking in ambition. The number of medals that can be won cannot be compared to ten, twenty or thirty years ago. The international development of the Paralympic movement is no longer the same. It is a very ambitious objective, and France has given itself the means to achieve it.
What has been the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on the preparation of athletes?
Certain forms of disability, having regard to the pathology, did not allow, during successive confinements, to be able to train properly at home, nor to have someone in the immediate vicinity to help the disabled person in his sporting practice.
We have seen a sharp decline in the number of licenses, which is in the high average of what other sports federations have experienced. There was a very strong impact of the Covid-19 on the licensing of people with disabilities, even though there was an exception of practice made available to clubs, but which it was difficult to implement. work in the field.
There were also many cancellations of competitions at the start of 2021, which weakened the athletes’ Olympic preparation. But this observation is valid for everyone.
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