It’s a sparkling first, like the smile of Elur Alberdi who floods the Rac̃ice basin, in the Czech Republic, this Friday. The Basque rower, reassembled barely two years ago in a boat after more than twenty years of break, raises the eyes to the sky. Incredulous, she seems to thank this fate which has not always turned out on the right side. She has just won her first para-rowing world champion title, for her first participation, in the PR3 mixed double sculls alongside Laurent Cadot. She now dreams of imitating Rowing Bayonnais rower Perle Bouge, Paralympic medalist and bronze medalist this Saturday in the PR2 category.
A “huge life course”
A victory in the form of a surprise, since the duo had only taken 3rd place in the preliminary race, dominated by the Brazilians, earlier in the week. A success unexpected at 45 for Elur Alberdidirector of the Culture and Animation department of the town hall of Saint-Pée-sur-Nivelle who only recently resumed rowing. “It’s unbelievable, I don’t even believe it yetwonders the champion. It’s a huge personal life journey and it’s very rewarding.”
The course of the native of Fontarrabie is indeed totally atypical. Champion of France at the age of 21, in 1998, with the Société Nautique de Bayonne, she then completely stopped rowing. “I took care of my children, of my professional career. That’s life in short.” But in 2009, his life changed. Victim of an accident, she is seriously injured in a forearm. She underwent four operations. “I was afraid of losing hand mobility. Finally I kept the mobility of the fingers, but not of the wrist.” However, she decided to return to sport a few years later. “I had gained a lot of weight. I started with the Basque force in an association in Hendaye.”
A dream: to represent France at Paris 2024
She regains a taste for physical effort, for surpassing herself, despite her handicap. “I was in good shape and I wanted to continue and make an ergo championshipsays Elur. And that’s where it all started.” His performances on the indoor rower attract attention. She finally decides to get back in a boat, barely 2 years ago. She trains alongside coastal rowing champion Jessica Berra at Endaika Arraun Elkartea in Hendaye. She works with Johan Segas, MMA champion, to perfect her physical preparation. She loses 40 kilos and regains the heights of the discipline at the cost of significant sacrifices : “I’m a mother of three children anyway. Doing everything at once was not easy. The work, the training sessions, everything… it’s complicated. But it was worth it.”
The title for her first participation in the world championships made the champion’s mouth water. “We laid the first stone, recognizes Elur. The objective now, it is clear, is to qualify the hull for the Paris 2024 Games.” For that, it will be necessary to finish in the top 5 next year at the world championships. A goal that therefore seems quite accessible for the Basque rower, French naturalized since 2010. She could have chosen the Spain team that made eyes at her. “I said no .” She preferred France, obviously: “It’s a very firm choice. Given that I live in France, that I work in France, that my children were born in France, that my husband is French, for me, it was inevitable”
Today, Elur proudly wears the jersey of the France team and dreams of being able to wear in Paris in two years. “My goal would be to be able to go there as a Frenchwoman. Knowing that I am also Basque.” Another flag that Euskaldun proudly displays.