Paralympic Games: One year after Paris, “finding funding has become a struggle again”

It was a golden age for French Paralympic athletes. Banks, hotel groups, supermarket chains, eyewear companies, tire companies, insurance companies… Before the summer of 2024, companies were fighting to have their brand associated with the athletes participating in the Paris Games . Everyone wanted to be able to say they had participated in the great Parisian celebration. Showing up alongside athletes with disabilities helped cultivate an open and inclusive image. The athletes took advantage of this, signing contracts by the bucketload, which guaranteed them a smooth preparation until the Paralympics. And then, there was the aftermath. The great void. The hangover.

"We didn't go from everything to nothing, but not far off," sighs Héloïse Courvoisier. At the time of the Games, the paratriathlete who finished seventh in Paris (in the visually impaired category) was accompanied by around ten "partners," which guaranteed her "around 55,000 euros" over the year to pay for her equipment, her coaches, and her travel.