On 8 August, the finalists of the women’s Olympic long jump competition had the support of a special spectator in the stands of the Stade de France. Fleur Jong drove to Saint-Denis (Seine-Saint-Denis) from Amsterdam, where she lives, to attend an event she would not have missed for anything in the world.
Not for nothing is the 28-year-old Dutchwoman the current Paralympic champion in the T64 category (for athletes with a deficiency in the lower part of one leg, or the absence of one or both legs, below the knee). On Saturday 31 August, the young woman, amputated on both legs and fitted with prostheses, will put her crown on the line again, before attempting a double in the 100 metres on 6 September.
In her homeland, Fleur Jong is a public figure. She was one of the flag bearers of the Dutch delegation during the Paralympic Games in Tokyo in the summer of 2021. She was also one of the few paraathletes to share the spotlight with able-bodied athletes during a Diamond League meeting on 8 September 2023 in Brussels. That day, the long jumper broke the world record in her original classification (T62), with a mark of 6.74 metres, finishing second behind Ivana Spanovic, the 2022 world indoor champion and Olympic bronze medallist at Rio 2016.
“Pushing the limits”
Fleur Jong had contacted the event promoters herself. “They were super open and helpful.She tells him World. It was important to jump with these athletes, to show the public and the organisers that it is sometimes possible to combine sport for disabled people and sport for people without disabilities. » On this occasion she became friends with Ivana Spanovic and remembered this phrase from Goran Obradovic, the Serbian coach: “Is this how you jump with prosthetics?” It’s not that different. »
However, this is not about claiming a place at the Olympic Games (OG), as the German Markus Rehm, three-time Paralympic champion in the long jump, was able to do in the past, but his request was rejected for the Rio Olympic Games. “We have our world championships in sports for the disabled and our Paralympic Games, which I am proud of.developed by Fleur Jong. But we can use commercial competitions like the Diamond League as a media platform. »
Paralympic athletes are “a parallel” Olympic athletes, “this is the meaning of para”insists. “It’s not about disability, it’s about overcoming limits. The Olympics and the Paralympics can coexist, we don’t need to compete together.” However, she advocates for greater inclusion in national championships, where, according to her, “A disabled 100m final could follow a valid 100m final.”
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