“Are you the journalist himself?” The communication difficulties of his childhood seem a distant memory for Lucas Créange, all smiles at the beginning of July, just a few weeks before taking part in his third Paralympic Games. At Paris 2024 – he starts competing on Wednesday 4 September – the table tennis player, who has a form of autism, is competing in class 11, which concerns athletes. with intellectual disabilities. After his bronze medal in Tokyo 2021, the 31-year-old athlete is aiming for a new podium, in a category with “very homogeneous level”and he said to himself ” sure “ : “At the moment I am in a good dynamic, I am playing well.”
His Paralympic medal in Tokyo shook up Lucas Créange’s daily life, which he had to endure “the much greater media coverage of the Games” compared to the World or European Championships, where the table tennis player had already accumulated seven medals of all metals. Suddenly, here’s the one on the receiving end. “many more messages than usual” ; this medal “changed many things”relates.
Subject to stress, especially at important moments in major competitions, Lucas Créange had a difficult post-Games period. Since 2022, he has been working with a mental coach, who helps him “to better manage tense situations”At the beginning of the year, when her qualification for Paris 2024 was not assured, she achieved two victories in two Opens in Brazil and Egypt, decisive for her rise in the world rankings. “This allowed me to qualify, save time in my preparation and give me peace of mind”he says.
A style of play based on defense
There is no shortage of work to shine at home. “My coach and I make a lot of videos to analyse our opponents and put things in their place”explains Lucas Créange. Because adversity is formidable, starting with the current champion, a Hungarian named Peter Palos. “It is very, very difficult, between the first and the eighth in the world, the level is very equal. Everyone can beat everyone else”predicts the French coach, Gang Xu.
This former top-level table tennis player of Chinese origin forms a complicit team with his protégé. “He has been my reference coach since 2021, but he has been taking care of me in competitions since 2016”the athlete remembers. “A few days ago Lucas told me that we met for the first time in 2011 in a table tennis hall”Mr. Xu recounts. “I hadn’t spoken to you but I had attended some of your matches. Even without training, you still had a good level”recalls Lucas Créange, whose memory recorded everything.
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