He prolongs a dream which will perhaps lead him to the Paris Games in 2024. Pierre Fairbank, born in 1971 in New Caledonia, is at the highest level since his first selection for the French team, for the world championships in Birmingham in 1998.
→ ANALYSIS. Tokyo Games: Paralympism in full swing
On the occasion of his sixth Paralympic Games, the recent three-time European champion will start on August 29 in a wheelchair race (in 100, 200 and 400 m), with the ambition to expand his rich record: 73 titles of champions of France, two world titles and above all eight Olympic medals, including one in gold won in Sidney in 2000, three in silver and four in bronze.
“Always so proud”
Suffering from polio diagnosed at the age of 9, he first played table tennis, before the race accidentally imposed itself on him: “As I was comfortable in my wheelchair movements, I quickly registered for a race in Japan.“, says the sports educator, who works in a local community in New Caledonia.
“Always so proud“ to wear the tricolor jersey and guide the youngest parathletes, he was one of the candidates for the role of flag bearer of the tricolor delegation, finally attributed to the judoka Sandrine Martinet and the wheelchair tennis player Stéphane Houdet. Politically engaged in Nouméa, Pierre Fairbank remains one of the charismatic ambassadors of the Overseas Territories.
A competitor at heart, he gave himself the means to achieve his ambitions before these Games, committing to an irreproachable hygiene of life and a daily training of three hours, six days a week. The competition will be fierce, he knows, to find a place in the top three. At the last World Disabled Sports Championships in Dubai in 2019, he failed at the foot of the podium.
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