Three in all. Among the 237 members of the French delegation, badass Charles Noakes, weightlifter Axel Bourlon and table tennis player Thomas Bouvais are the only representatives of short athletes at the Paris 2024 Games. Contrary to what this figure might suggest, they have never been so numerous among the Blues since the International Paralympic Committee recognised dwarfism in 2001.
“It’s fantastic to have three athletes in Paris 2024. We don’t talk much about short athletes”exclaims Patricia Marquis, who was the first short French athlete to take part in the Paralympic Games in 2004 in Athens and 2008 in Beijing; the discotheque athlete had been captain of the French para-athletics team in Beijing.
Axel Bourlon is even more perplexed: “In Tokyo, there was only Thomas [Bouvais, médaillé de bronze en tennis de table] and me. There are three of us now. Are short people not too interested in sports? [pour être si peu représentés aux Jeux] ? »asks the 33-year-old athlete, current Paralympic runner-up, who will aim for the podium in the -54 kg category.
“There are more short athletes in the United States and the United Kingdom”echoes the French-English Charles Noakes, who suffers from hypochondroplasia, a genetic disorder of the skeleton. “In France, we are more concerned about protection. We don’t do enough sport. Maybe people are afraid of being made fun of.”says.
Swimming to strengthen your body
For his part, Charles Noakes, 27, claims to have always been “well integrated thanks to sport” : “My parents always gave me total freedomconfess. There were certainly taunts and insults on the football pitches. It never bothered me and I proved that, even though I was smaller, I could score with a header or dribble. »
He did not miss the opportunity to compete in the Paralympic Games when, after enrolling in a badminton club in Saint-Herblain (Loire-Atlantique), its president informed him of the existence of a sports section for disabled people: “He told me that there was now a category for short people.”
Axel Bourlon, for his part, started doing bench press in 2006, at the age of 17, with the goal of… learning to swim. “Because of my body shape, I had difficulty lifting my head above water to breathe. I didn’t have enough muscle in my upper back.”explains.
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