favourite, Guillaume Toucoullet misses the target: Libération

2024-09-04 17:53:00

After breaking the Paralympic record in the qualifiers, the French archer fell in the round of 16 of the open recurve bow, this Wednesday 4 August. He will try to rectify the situation on Thursday in a mixed team event.

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Behind the grandiose shooting range of the Esplanade des Invalides where the archery competitions take place, lies the intimacy of the training targets. It was there, without an audience and far from the hustle and bustle that animates the other competition venues, that Guillaume Toucoullet scored ten goals at the center of the target to break the Paralympic record, on Thursday 29 August, during the qualifiers of his category, open recurve bow. The reserve of the moment is not displeasing to the leader of the Blues who, behind his imposing physique, hides a rather discreet and humble character.

It was necessary for the speaker’s announcement to confirm his great achievement for him to believe it. For the almost forty-year-old Basque, yes “a big surprise”, although the result was 13 points lower than his own world record (652 out of 665 in 2022). And who is used to great results: current world number 2 in archery, world and European vice champion in the last two years and French champion several times.

Harsh laws of Aeolus

But now, after the disillusionment of the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, where he arrived as the favorite and was eliminated as soon as he entered the race despite being the favourite, he did not dare to aim too high in Paris. “For me, if I progress, if I beat my records, that’s enough for me. It doesn’t matter what happens behind it he said Free a few days before the race. Was it a bad feeling or an excess of modesty? Today’s scenario would make us lean more towards the first option. In front of scattered stands, Guillaume Toucoullet finally suffered the same fate as Tokyo. The world number two was eliminated from the start by Colombian outsider Hector Julio Raminez (6-4).

His shooting technique, staying with his mouth, didn’t pay off. Paralyzed in his left arm following a car accident, Toucoullet holds his bow taut with his right arm and keeps a small leather tab attached to the string to release the arrow. A particularly demanding procedure on the neck and cervical area, but also on the teeth. This Wednesday it wasn’t his teeth but the weather conditions that damaged him. “I don’t have a rear block, all it takes is a little wind [sa bête noire, ndlr]so that I go away and it’s over”, explained Toucoullet before the race. To better understand his gesture, he shoots up to 500 arrows a day. But on Wednesday at the Invalides he suffered the harsh laws of Eole.

The match started badly, he let the first two rounds slip away from the Colombian, who was more precise. But the Basque had warned during qualifying that we operate in “diesel” mode. So for a moment we believed it. An arrow in the 8th finally dampened his hopes. “I’m disappointed, this last arrow, I can’t understand why it’s so wide…Toucoullet said as he left the shooting range. I still lose with a 9-9-8, like in Tokyo, even if I’m no longer the same man.”

Through the little door

In fact, the Frenchman arrived with another status in his homeland. His charisma, with his full beard, backwards cap and fully tattooed right arm, attracted all eyes during the ranking shots. In particular those from Japanese journalists who asked him if he had Japanese tattoos. “More like Celtic symbols,” he replied. We easily attribute a slightly Viking look to this metal fan. But appearance does not make the man.

Toucoullet approached archery from the back door, during an association forum in Anglet (Pyrénées-Atlantiques), in 2017. What attracted him first: the “challenge» represented by the shot with the mouth. Until then, this sports fanatic practiced explosive disciplines, such as pelota and rowing with the French team. A ship he leaves after qualifying and then being excluded from the Rio Paralympics in 2016. “Coming from rowing, I thought archery wasn’t a sport. I was an idiot, he admits. Putting arrows in the center of the target is pretty exhilarating.”

Just three months after starting, he was already on the podium of the French championships (3rd) and attracted the attention of the federation. His coach, Vincent Hybois, with whom he refines his actions daily, has highlighted his side “hyperperfectionist”, which brought him to high levels very quickly. “I fought until the end, even in the wind” he mulled this Wednesday. After six days of competition, the Italian archery still has no medal, but the Basque is not one to complain for too long. She hopes to rectify the situation on Thursday, during the mixed team event, alongside Aziza Benhami.