“We shared a lot of joy together”, Paralympic cyclist Elie de Carvalho with Léon Marchand and Antoine Dupond

Elie De Carvalho immortalized his meeting at Place du Capitole in Toulouse with Léon Marchand and Antoine Dupond. D.R

Silver medalist at the Paris Paralympic Games (time trial), the Millau cyclist Elie De Carvalho has just been celebrated, with a dozen other Olympic and Paralympic champions, in Toulouse.

“A lot of pride, it was a goal I had been preparing for years”.A fortnight after winning the silver medal on Wednesday 4 September in the Paralympic cycling time trial, Elie De Carvalho (visually impaired) fully realises his happiness. A sporting and human achievement, achieved in tandem with his pilot Mickaël Guichard, who is carrying the 29-year-old para-athlete from Millau. “I am very happy to have won this medal in Paris in front of my loved ones.”

A joy that compensates for the disappointment of having, a few days later, failed at the foot of the podium in the road race because of a mechanical accident. “At the time and the two or three days that followed it was very hard of course. But, afterwards, I tell myself that I still have a silver medal. If someone had told me, a year ago, that I would have a medal at the Games… I would have signed straight away! So I mainly remember that."

"I think that the Paralympic Games have really evolved positively"

Put under the media spotlight, the Paralympic Games have proven to the greatest number of people that inclusion is possible. It remains to be seen whether positive effects will be real for the future. Through sport and in society. "I hope so," breathes Elie De Carvalho. "I am in great demand, invited&hellip even though I'm a newcomer to the French team circuit. I think that the Paralympic Games have really evolved positively."

A solicitation question, Elie De Carvalho was, this Thursday, September 19, on the Place du Capitole in Toulouse with a dozen other Olympic and Paralympic medal-winning champions. The opportunity to meet, in particular, the rugby player Antoine Dupond and the swimmer Léon Marchand. Two figures of the pink city. "We shared a lot of joy together. I admired them this summer at the Olympic Games and finding myself alongside them a few weeks later at the Capitole… These are memories to keep for life! They congratulated me on my medal. Antoine and Léon are very nice.”