As she immediately points out, for Pauline Deroulède, “the Paralympic day is every day”. It must be said that the wheelchair tennis player made participation in the Paris Games a real life goal, a promise for her and her loved ones, when in 2018 she woke up with a leg amputated after being mowed down by a motorist. “I quickly integrated the fact that I had lost my leg, it’s as if the connections had been made right away, that I knew that the only tool that was going to allow me to get out of it and survive , it was sport, and at the highest level, she explains today. I had in mind that the 2024 Olympics would take place in Paris, so it was very quickly in my head. »
Now less than two years from the event, the 31-year-old will first participate in a great first this Saturday: a 100% Paralympic day, organized at Place de la Bastille in Paris. Until now, disabled athletes have joined in the celebrations on Olympic Day, which takes place every June 23. There, it will be a day just for them, at the center of all the attention of the public. “It’s good to mark the occasion as the countdown is on, to raise awareness and make them want to come and support us in large numbers in 2024.”
From 12 p.m. to 9 p.m., anyone who wants to can come and have a look (for free) and chat with the athletes (take advantage of it, there will be a good hundred of them), attend demonstrations and even for the most curious test out about fifteen disciplines, such as wheelchair basketball, boccia, para-athletics, wheelchair fencing, para-rowing or sitting volleyball. An interesting and enriching experience, to fully measure the extent to which these athletes achieve exceptional performances.
Sport, “the best possible tool for construction and development”
Pauline Deroulède will be there, and will be happy to explain the specificities of wheelchair tennis. Exciting for anyone who loves sport and understands it a bit. A good level player before her accident, she had to completely deconstruct her reflexes to adopt new habits. Beyond the difficulty of learning to handle your wheelchair to perfection in order to be able to adjust to the trajectory of the ball, you have to deal with an element specific to Para tennis: the pivot. “It’s that moment when you turn your back on the game to put yourself back together. It lasts a fraction of a second, but you have to take your eyes off the ball, she describes. It never happens when you play standing up. Losing sight of the ball and finding it right away requires a different eye, a whole different reactivity. »
The important message transmitted through this sharing of experience is the place we give to sport in our lives, whatever our situation and our level. “It’s the best possible tool for construction and fulfillment for people – and in particular young people – who are looking for themselves, who are not comfortable in their own skin, with or without a disability”, is convinced Pauline. And why this ? “It’s a way to decompress, to have fun [les fameuses endorphines], to take ownership of your body, to know your limits, to surpass yourself, she lists. When you play sports, the head is better, the body too. When I was in rehabilitation, it was a saving way to walk quickly again, it allowed me to be in action. »
Like many others, the young woman could not have passed the course of her accident without it. Real relentless, she has given herself the means to move forward, to progress, to become in three years on the circuit the number 1 French and number 17 worldwide in her category. Always looking for areas for improvement, she participates in scientific experiments organized by the University of Rennes-II and carried out at the Federation’s National Training Center. The principle ? Collect personalized biomechanical, clinical and cognitive data, including serving and return of serve (the two most important strokes in tennis) to know what to work on in training. “It allows you to understand the mechanics of your own body and therefore to optimize performance afterwards,” she says. To go further on this subject, we can only strongly advise you to read this article by our colleagues from Worldwho devoted an episode of their series to the player on “athletes with exceptional physical and mental abilities, scrutinized by science”.
Changing the “culture of disability”
Beyond these sporting considerations, the Paralympic day, and by extension the Games that will soon take place in our country, are also a unique opportunity to “change the way people look at disability”. A somewhat cliché expression, but still relevant. “There has to be a legacy, whether it’s the start of an era where sports culture is richer in France, but also where the culture of disability is evolving, because it’s still too taboo. There is still a lot of progress to be made, steps, to fully open up to people with disabilities. It’s important to talk about it, ”says Pauline Deroulède.
The athlete takes as an example these adults crossed in the street and who find themselves embarrassed when having to explain to their children, obviously curious, why “the lady has a robot leg”. “They are not always comfortable, they are afraid of doing the wrong thing, of saying the wrong thing. Just explain, simply and in understandable words, without making up stories, she advises. No need to go to extremes, compassion, pity. In addition, children have this ability to integrate things right away. »
The Games in Paris will have to be used for that, too. In the meantime, the champion, who has just participated in her first Grand Slam tournament, last month at the US Open, continues to prepare to qualify without incident (it will be necessary to be in the first 30 world ones a month before) then “go for a podium”. The coming months promise to be busy, especially as it continues its fight for road safety at the same time. Mowed down while she was on a sidewalk by a nonagenarian motorist who lost control of his car, Pauline Deroulède is campaigning for the introduction of a driving aptitude test as soon as she obtains the license, with a frequency more regular from the age of 60. In contact with the government and the interministerial delegation for road safety, she said she was confident that measures would be taken “in the coming months”.
From this battle has already been born an awareness clip, where we see her with a little girl who is also amputated, which concludes as follows: “If our drivers had passed a driving license: they would no longer have the license . And Cleo and I would still have our two legs. A second is currently in preparation, and will be released in early November. “We want to make it clear through the image that sometimes we can no longer be able to drive and that it can do damage, supports the 30-year-old. Maybe when people see this they will stop on their own, or talk about it around them. “Stories like that, he hides in all the athletes who will be present place de la Bastille this Saturday. Run there to discover them.