No doubt, given the beauty of the medals at these Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, which contain a piece of the Eiffel Tower, as manyFrench athletes would like to keep them at home! This promises to be an arduous task, given the results of previous Paralympics, when only around 50 medals were brought home, for a ranking after the Top 10. And while 50 medals is a good record at the Olympics, it's not the case at the Paralympics, where the number of events is much greater!
54 medals in Tokyo, 28 in Rio, 45 in London, 52 in Beijing - it wasn't a great harvest. The good news is thatwe can only do better at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games! While China, the United States and England are still likely to be well ahead of us, getting back into the top 10 would already be quite an achievement, or even a top 8, as CPSF President Marie-Amélie Le Fur hopes.
The latter would also like to see the number of gold medals double that of the last Olympiad, bringing the total to 22 ! A far from insane ambition, given that the Olympic delegation has shattered all records! The Games at home should encourage athletes to outdo themselves, cheered on by their fellow citizens, in historic venues they know well.
Since Sydney 2000, with a seventh-place finish and 86 medals, France has been struggling. It has become impossible to beat the record of a bygone era, when the Games had a different configuration in 1984, with 186 medals including 71 gold and 6th place on the medal table, no less. More accessible, the real record dates back to 1992 in Barcelona, with 4th place and 106 medals, including 36 gold!
Come on, let's go for it? With 230 athletes as motivated as ever, it's a tempting prospect, especially as there have never been so many events on the program since Sydney 2000, which gives us a better chance! Let's all get behind Les Bleus!
Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: what are France's medal chances?
At the Tokyo Paralympics, France came fourteenth with 54 medals, eleven of them gold. Can it do better on home soil at the Paris 2024 Games? [Read more]
Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: what are France's medal chances?
