When Dorian Foulon turns at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines velodrome, the entire stadium carries him in its arms. Just behind the railing of the first corner are his coach, Christophe Dizy, and his friends from the Basque Country, where he trains. On the opposite corner, there are his family and childhood friends, in particular from La Chapelle-Caro, his village of a thousand inhabitants in Morbihan. A little further away are his medical team and all those who support him on a daily basis.
Saturday, August 31, the stands sang together There Marseillaise to congratulate the 26-year-old athlete, who retained his title in the Paralympic pursuit (4,000 m) in C5, a category intended for athletes with amputation or serious injury to a hand or foot. For Dorian Foulon, the anthem had a special flavour. You listen to the public, you have your staff, your loved ones, I trusted. Sharing this is a once in a lifetime moment and living it today is incredible… The audience responded, a bit crazy. »
Born with a congenital left equinovarus clubfoot, Dorian Foulon was “a tenacious child who always wanted to be considered like everyone else”confides Jean-Marc Foulon, his father. “At school I was exempt from playing sports, but I always went, duck. He ran like all the kids and even though his legs hurt for a few days afterwards, he didn’t really care! » The new Paralympic champion learns to ride a bike alone, on a bumpy course in La Chapelle-Caro.
“Dorian was a lovely, kind and always jovial child, Remember Gilles and Béatrice Torcheux, a couple who were close friends of his parents and also members of his fan club. He never complained. » Because of his malformation, he underwent two operations to restore his foot: the first a few days after his birth, the second around the age of 6. The surgeon then performed an arthrodesis, a blockage of the ankle.
Some races with people without disabilities
When his father was transferred to Belle-Ile-en-Mer, still in Morbihan, Dorian Foulon took up road cycling, “to compete against healthy people by hiding their disability,” says his father. The loss of power in his left calf is estimated at 75%, that of his thigh at 35%, but that did not prevent him from winning some events in cadets and then in juniors against runners with unimproved physical abilities.
In 2014, she met Christophe Dizy and Céline Aujard, her mental coach. “Dorian changed my life, she says. He is a very loving and altruistic man who wins for others before himself. I only hope that today he takes advantage of his magnificent title. » The athlete is now training in a private facility called OSE, a high-performance cycling and para-cycling centre that operates with its own staff, outside the federation.
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