10th International Abilympics:
FRANCE WINS 29 MEDALS!
Brice won the Gold Medal and Medal of Excellence in Baking, Sylvaine and Célia, respectively won Gold and Silver in Floral Art, Morgane/Mikaël won Gold and Marie/Sophie won Silver in pairs Cooking, Dimitri won Gold and Yannick won Bronze in Landscape Gardening, Maël won Bronze in Web Design, Delphine also won Bronze in Pastry-making, Cloé won Gold in Fashion, Jaime won Silver, just behind Korea, which he was dreading so much ...
France pocketed 29 medals - 10 Gold, 11 Silver and 8 Bronze - and rose to 2nd place in these 10th International Abilympics, behind South Korea (31) and ahead of Chinese Taipei/Taiwan (20).
The medallists and all the delegations went crazy at the Metz Arena on Saturday evening during the closing ceremony, after 3 intense days of competition. Stress and concentration, tears and laughter, self-doubt and self-confidence, hope and relief... emotions were running high for the 400 or so competitors, but also for the experts, judges, support teams and families, some of whom had travelled long distances to cheer on and encourage the competitors.
For some, winning a medal felt a little like turning the tables on life, and for others it was one more victory, a stage, both professional and personal. Edwin, Océane and Néo who finished just off the podium, have already made up their minds; they want to relive the adventure in 4 years’ time, to defend the colours of France once more, but above all , to defend their own talent and excellence!
« Finishing at the top of the podium – I just couldn’t believe it! On the stage, there’s an explosion of joy, but at the same time we felt lost and disorientated with all eyes trained on us... But what a wonderful feeling! And then seeing my name reappear on the screens for the Medal of Excellence, that truly was the Holy Grail! But the best thing of all was the look of pride in the eyes of my wife and son.
These two medals are a kind of retribution for a life that hasn’t been kind. In this way we show the world that even if we are different, we can still reach our goals and even surpass them! »
Brice VIZLER, Gold Medal and Medal of Excellence in Baking
« What a great success, a blend of pleasure, dialogue, sharing, talent and skills. A joy shared by all the delegations. We’d love to experience this kind of event more often. »
Abilympics France President Noël ROGER
« Many congratulations to the Abilympics France team who put on a dazzling show over the 3 days of international competition in Metz! 29 medallists out of 43 during these ‘Skills Paralympics’’, what a list of achievements and what great recognition of French know-how and excellence internationally. »
Carole GRANDJEAN
Minister Delegate for Vocational Education and Training
43 TALENTED FRENCH MEN AND WOMEN, 29 MEDALLISTS
Coming from all over France and one from Réunion Island, 43 candidates with disabilities aged 17 to 57, presented themselves on the starting line. Congratulations to everyone! 29 of them won a medal.
10 GOLD MEDALS
Baking
Cycle Assembly
Restaurant Service
Painting and Decorating
Waste Management
Landscape Gardening
Floral Art
Fashion Technology
Tiling
Cooking (in pairs)
11 SILVER MEDALS
Cycle Assembly
Restaurant Service
Illustration
Hairdressing
Waste Management
Floral Art
Cooking (in pairs)
Dental Technician
Welding
Painting and Decorating
CAD - Mechanical Engineering
8 BRONZE MEDALS
Web Page Design
Poster Design
Computer Asssembly
Landscape Gardener
Fashion Technology (basic)
Still Life Sculpture
Pastry-making and Confectionary
Systems and Digital Networks Administration
Web Page Design
Photographic Studio
Poster Design
Reportage Photography
Cuisine (Individuel)
Character Design Illustration
Cooking (individually)
Character Design Illustration
Still Life Sculpture
Tailor
Still Life Sculpture
Computer Systems and Networks Administration
Brice VIZLER and Medal of Excellence
Laurent FLECKSTEINER
Andrew LACROIX
Grégory VANHOOLANT
Catheline HUGON
Dimitri JOST
Sylvaine AGATOR
Cloé LEMARECHAL
Fabien ISSARTEL
Mikael DALLEAU and Morgane LADEUILLE
Saâd LAZOUACHE
Corinne PIERRE-LOUIS
Charlotte COSTE
Juliette AMINOT
Jean-Claude DUEE
Célia PIGNOUX
Sophie SIMON and Marie BEVACQUA
Maude DEMESMAY
Jaime CAETANO
Hakim KARAR
Sébastien PRIEURET
Maël BELVAL
Vanessa BILLET
Fabien MANA
Yannick NONORGUE
Clémence CRACCO
Julien LAMIT
Delphine POULET
Loïc SANROMA
Esther BAUZOU
Alexandre FERNANDES
Eric PELLIAT
Edwin CARPENTIER
Agnès GAIA
Rémi ANFIF
Élodie GOUALIN
Neo LAURENSOU
Sébastien POTDEVIN
Océane TÊTU
Anne-Sophie VESSAT
Anne-Lise TREILLARD
