Posted at 8:00 a.m.
“I remember, the first sentence I said to my mother was: “It will take me longer than the others, but I will always arrive at the same thing, I just have to work stronger.” »
Lyne-Marie Bilodeau was 5 or 6 years old. She had just understood, for the first time, that her body did not behave like those around her.
“It took a long time before I realized I was different. That I was limping. That I was missing something that other people had,” she told The Pressat the beginning of February.
The Sherbrooke skier suffers from hemiparesis, a partial paralysis or partial loss of muscle strength that usually affects only one half of the body. Lyne-Marie is affected on both sides, but mainly on the left. She assesses her deficit on this side at 75%, and on the right side, at 30%.
“I am more affected in the lower body and the left hand. I have no balance on the left side. You shouldn’t push me! My reflexes on the left side are not very good, more in slow motion than the other. Otherwise, the right side is almost normal, ”she says with a restrained laugh.
His left arm being less strong, this results in “a small disadvantage” for the double push, indicates the athlete.
Which didn’t stop her from getting her ticket to Beijing. Information that she had not yet assimilated to a month of the event.
I do not realize that I will achieve my dream! I’m riding on a wave. I think I’ll realize it when I’m sitting on the plane to Beijing.
Lyne-Marie Bilodeau
The teddy bear that she always keeps in the outside pocket of her ski bag will also be on the trip.
System D
This disability, his family “did not make a fuss”, she says.
Her father, Charles Bilodeau, was a top-level sailing athlete. His mother, Sylvie Desrosiers, was part of the coaching staff of the national alpine ski team. Not to mention her older brother, whose footsteps she wanted to follow. She grew up in an environment conducive to sport. Cross-country skiing will very quickly be part of her life, then will follow the triathlon, which she will practice until the age of 17.
Lyne-Marie was very young when she told her mother that she would achieve the same results as the others by working harder. But these were not empty words.
In 3and secondary school, as part of Expo-Sciences, she designed, with the help of a specialized company, a carbon fiber orthosis for her left ankle.
To his great surprise, his creation even attracted the attention and aroused the interest of the manufacturer Rossignol, who was already sponsoring it.
Sledding
Until then, Lyne-Marie Bilodeau practiced standing cross-country skiing, more seriously from 2016. Then, the following year, she was suggested a turn that would lead her to the Games five years later.
“After a long distance in the World Cup in Alberta in 2017, the Canadian team coach came to see me because he saw that I had a very good double push, that I was really very strong, but that the bottom no longer followed. »
It was a 15 km event, she recalls. And his ankles – his left ankle causes him more trouble than his left arm – were too sore. The constant effort on the lower body did not suit him. She therefore switched to sled skiing, on her knees.
PHOTO PROVIDED BY THE CANADIAN PARALYMPIC TEAM
Lyne-Marie Bilodeau
The sledges cannot be identical from one competitor to another since their situation is not. Some athletes, for example, have both legs amputated.
“It’s very rare that the sledges are exactly the same because it depends on the handicap. There are some who are on their knees on the sledge, others who are not able, so they are seated with a backrest. But there are criteria so that we don’t cheat, in quotation marks,” underlines Lyne-Marie Bilodeau, youngest member and only Quebecer of the Canadian cross-country ski delegation.
She starts at the same time as skiers whose “handicap rating” differs from hers (LW12), then the time is weighted according to the category, she explains.
Train with your idol
Last August, Lyne-Marie Bilodeau took the direction of Alberta permanently in order to be closer to Canmore, where the national para-Nordic ski team is established, a name that encompasses the different forms and categories of cross-country skiing, as well as biathlon.
It would then be easier for her to train as if she were going to the Paralympic Games… although she had no idea at the time that this would be the case.
Another non-negligible added value: training occasionally with his idol, the skier Brian McKeever, visually handicapped, Canadian with the most medals of the Paralympic Winter Games.
“He talks a lot, he is very verbal! “says the Quebecer, who is also studying to become an early childhood educator. “So it’s easy to learn from his experience. And he has a great technique. Even though he’s standing, the double push is still the double push, so I’m learning a lot and he’s very generous with his advice. It sure is really inspiring. »
In December, his performance at the World Cup in Canmore, which also served as a selection for the Games, earned him a bye. Only 20 years old. Which didn’t surprise her, though.
I’ve been saying since I was very young, and more concretely since I started luge, that in 2022, it’s sure that I’m doing the Games. I knew inside of me that I could do it. I just had to perform on qualifying day.
Lyne-Marie Bilodeau
“Doing the Games” is one thing. Performing there at the height of his talent is another. But clearly the three-time gold medalist at the 2019 Canada Winter Games isn’t putting too much pressure on herself. She even told The gallery that she was going to acquire some baggage this year and that the medals would wait for the next Games. A month before leaving, she was still in this state of mind.
“For real, yes. Since it’s a big event, it’s a lot of distractions, she points out. I’m going to be really learning and experiencing, and in four years, in Italy, I’m going to start thinking more about the top 5.”
The Paralympic Games in Beijing take place from March 4 to 13. The women’s seated cross-country paraski events are scheduled for March 6, 9 and 12.