“Marie-Jo said I was the funniest”: the crazy journey of Rosa Murcia-Gangloff from Béziers, 59, competing in the Paralympic marathon

Rosa Murcia-Gangloff and her entire team trained at Insep a few days before the marathon. DR

A sports instructor in Béziers for twelve years, Rosa Murcia-Gangloff, 59 years old and visually impaired, is setting off for the Paralympic marathon this Sunday morning. The medal is within her reach. A crazy challenge, thirty-two years after participating in the Barcelona Olympic Games.

“Don't talk to me about age!”, he said. Kylian Mbappé's punchline works both ways. Rosa Murcia-Gangloff is 59 years old and has set herself a pretty crazy challenge: to run the marathon at the 2024 Paris Games in the T12 category (visually impaired). And, why not, go for a medal. “I feel good, I'm at the right weight, I feel like a young girl”, smiles the Narbonne native, who has just finished an intensive training course in Font-Romeu. “During the last month of preparation, we ran 170 kilometers per week”, (s’es) breathes Gilles, her husband, guide, support and teammate for forty years.

This slightly crazy challenge is part of Rosa's extraordinary journey and story. A professional athlete, selected for the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and holder of the French 10,000m record for 20 years, this daughter of Spanish immigrants saw her career, her life, change dramatically from 1994. History.

Meeting with Marie-Jo Pérec

A member of the French delegation in the late 80s and early 90s, Rosa Murcia-Gangloff rubbed shoulders with Marie-Jo Péréc, a triple Olympic champion. “I had almost my full career at the same time as Marie-Jo, who is three years younger than me. She is truly a simple, extraordinary person. Despite her talent and popularity, she was always in the Olympic village with us. At the Barcelona Olympics, we were in the same block. At some meetings, we were in the same room. I saw her again 2-3 years ago, we fell into each other's arms. She sent me an email not long ago. She said I was the funniest girl she had ever met. This generation, we have remained very close. Like with Stéphane Diagana”, she confides.

“I would beat everyone up”

Rosa is convinced that she developed her strength and endurance in her youth, in Lyon. “The first five years of my life, I grew up in a shantytown in Villeurbanne. But I never lacked anything. We were so happy among ourselves, with the Italians, the Portuguese, the North Africans. When I was 5, my parents finally found a house, still in the suburbs of Lyon”, says Rosa.

A few years go by. The idea of ​​practicing athletics is not at all on the agenda. “We had no means of locomotion except our legs. I was always outside, I went to the adventure park two kilometers away. We ran there and we ran back", she still smiles today, as if it were yesterday.

Then comes primary school, the beginning of middle school. "At every inter-school cross-country race, I beat everyone up." Until the day she catches the eye of the local athletics club leaders, who have come just in case to spot the surrounding nuggets. At 13, the adventure begins.

Rosa Murcia-Gangloff and her entire team trained at Insep a few days before the marathon. DR

Glaucoma

“When you become a good athlete, a quick goal sets itself up: the Olympic Games. I missed qualifying for Seoul 1988 by two seconds in the 3,000m event,” recalls Rosa. Then a very special event happens. “I'm already looking ahead. And what about in 1992? Barcelona, ​​the city of my father, my grandmother. That was my absolute goal. I managed to do the minimum in the 10,000m, I broke the French record. I was proud of myself. My family, let's not even talk about it." The dream becomes reality.

But a mishap turns the champion's career upside down. "In 1994, I had my first eye problem. During the European Championships in Helsinki (Finland), I took part in the marathon. I hit the wall in the face (*), knowing that it was 35 degrees in the shade. I should have stopped but there's a medal to go get(in bronze). I end up dehydrated. And apparently, I have a weakness in my eyes that results in a retinal detachment”, explains the person concerned.

Rosa Murcia-Gangloff and her entire team trained at Insep a few days before the marathon. DR

The eye eventually heals. But it's a first warning. It's after that things get complicated. “When I get pregnant, my body changes, there is a hormonal change. Which triggers glaucoma (degenerative disease of the optic nerve) in my right eye”. Little by little, my eyesight deteriorates. Until reaching total blindness. “I only have my left eye left but it's not at its best, I can't see the reliefs”, she explains.

Despite this visual impairment, “life goes on and it's beautiful” for Rosa Murcia-Gangloff. She continues to train at the Béziers club. Her children, her husband, her three dogs are “in good health, and that's the most important thing. I am happy." 

On Sunday, during about 3 hours and 10 minutes of effort, Rosa will be carried. “I train about thirty young people, adults, marathoners, trail runners… I get lots of messages. They are all going all out.” At the end, there is something crazy to go for. Almost as crazy as Rosa's course.

The race

To run the 42.125 km of the Paris marathon, Rosa Murcia-Gangloff has a plan. Her husband and partner for 40 years, Gilles, will be her guide for the first ten kilometers. The two are connected by a flexible 50 cm link, more comfortable than the sprinters (10 cm). Then it will be the turn of Mathieu Le Roux (33 years old), his former protégé at the Fontainebleau club. “My mission will be to keep Gilles' tempo, to motivate Rosa over the remaining 32 kilometers”, explains the one who runs in 2’22’’ per kilometer in a marathon. “There, the effort should last between 3 and 3 hours 10”, he confides.

Even if the entourage is cautious, there is a trinket to go and get for Rosa. “There is a Moroccan who is well above. Behind, there are five of them aiming for the podium”, assures Gilles. So maybe.

(*) The “marathon wall” is a recognized physiological phenomenon that occurs around the 30th km, corresponding to a sort of muscular fuel failure.