A road paved with gold for cyclists that hides a forest of disillusionment… The recap of Wednesday’s day

After shining on the track, the French paracyclists splashed the road events by collecting 11 medals on Wednesday. Unfortunately, the rest of the French delegation had trouble getting in tune.

The art of bouncing back. After the day without a gold medal the day before, the French team fired up everything on Wednesday, September 4, by winning four new trinkets of the most precious metal, thanks to wild cyclists.

On a day marked by the giants Bebe Vito and Oksana Masters, the other French women struggled to keep up with the crazy pace of the “road racers”. This dissonance is costing France dearly, still 5th in the medal standings, but which beat its record for Paralympic titles dating from the previous edition.

French Day: Blue Raid in Paracycling, Berezina for Bourlon, Toucoullet, Fencing and Horse Riding

The frame, the surface and the bikes change, but not the results. Already at full throttle on the velodrome, the French cyclists tamed the asphalt of Clichy-sous-Bois with the same ease. Over the course of the time trials, the French medal counter suddenly went crazy like a seismograph. The epicentre of this blue earthquake, the four gold medals won by Alexandre Léauté in the C2 time trial, Kévin Le Cunff in the C4 category, Thomas Peyroton-Dartet (C3) and Mathieu Bosredon (H3). A magnificent four aces to which we must add seven other individual medals to sign off an almost perfect day.

In a perfect world, the French competing in the other events of the day would have benefited from the cyclists’ wake. It was rather the rut that awaited them. Like Axel Bourlon, Paralympic vice-champion in Tokyo but author of a zero point in the paraweightlifting competition, it was the entire blue clan that drew a blank. Or almost. Even Fabien Lamirault’s bronze medalthe reigning para table tennis champion and world number 1, had a bitter taste.

Lucas Créange, Maxime Thomas, Morgen Caillaud, Flora Vautier and Clément Berthier all left the tournament prematurely. Only Lucas Didier managed to save the day by securing a place in the last four. Horse riding and fencing, where there were real chances of medals, were no more successful. The disappointment is even greater, perhaps, for Guillaume Toucoullet, best scorer in the series in para archery and eliminated in the round of 16. In swimming, the hitherto blessed water of the pool did not grant its grace to Alex Portal, sixth in the 100m freestyle final, while in wheelchair tennis, the Houdet-Cattanéo pair were eliminated in the quarter-finals, even if they can still aim for bronze.

Today’s performance: Rong Xiao brings down the Vio myth

Shock and trembling at the Grand Palais. Bebe Vio, absolute star of wheelchair fencing and national idol in Italy, beaten in the semi-final of the foil tournament (category B)! It seemed unthinkable and yet. The reigning Olympic champion since 2016, the Transalpine was surprised by the Chinese Rong Xiao (15-9) who certainly signs one of the biggest sensations of these Games.

A sign of the shockwave that this defeat created, Bebe Vio, in tears, took a long time to leave the track. Similarly, some Italian spectators present could not hide their emotion at the sight of the fallen idol and wanted to support her. You don’t leave Bebe in a corner. But a champion remains a champion: with the heart of a lioness, she was able to remobilize herself to snatch the bronze, a few hours later.

The beautiful story of the day: Oksana Masters, a class apart

From purgatory to 7th heaven. The story of Oksana Masters is a novel. A dark novel that, fortunately, ends well. Given birth in the radioactive mists of Chernobyl, Ukraine, she was born without a shin and with six fingers on each hand. With both legs amputated, abandoned in an orphanage by her parents and raped there, young Oksana owes her salvation to a speech therapy teacher, Gay Masters, who adopted her in 1996.

Under his wing, the young girl will be reborn before becoming one of the most famous athletes in history. A multi-specialist (rower, cyclist, biathlete and cross-country skier), she excels in all disciplines. Already crowned at the Winter Games in biathlon in Beijing in 2022 and in cross-country skiing in Pyeongchang in 2018, she had also won bronze in rowing in 2012 in London. On Wednesday, the insatiable American added a new gold medal, her 3rd in paracycling, by winning the road time trial event in the H4-5 category.