in parajudo, Sandrine Martinet is satisfied with silver in the -48kg – Libération

2024-09-05 17:29:00

For her sixth participation in the Games, the 41-year-old Frenchwoman won the silver medal this Thursday 5 September, the fifth result of her Paralympic career. She failed to end the invincibility of her Kazakh opponent Akmaral Nauatbek.

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In her career, Sandrine Martinet has seen it all. Victory, defeat, injury, motherhood, stoppage, comeback, amateurism, professionalization… The French parajudoka has gone through everything that makes the life of a high-level athlete so exciting. At 41, the standard-bearer of the Blues in Tokyo is experiencing her sixth Paralympics in Paris, she who was already on the tatamis in Athens during the introduction of the women’s parajudo categories. After Japan in 2021, and yet another silver medal at the Paralympics – the third of his career – he decided to stop. For her, high-level sport was over, too many sacrifices, especially economic ones, and the time spent away from her two children.

But in 2022, a contract signed with the “army of champions” (stipulated with the Ministry of the Armed Forces) allows him to suspend his physiotherapy activity to dedicate himself exclusively to training: “For the first time in my life, I can finally say that I live at a high level,” he said Free a year before the Games. This Thursday 5 September, in front of her family, her children, her husband but also the thousands of fans who did not stop shouting her name during the final, the holder of the PSG judo license ended the day in silver after losing to the invincible Kazakh Akmaral Nauatbek at the end of the afternoon. Once again this feeling of unfinished business for the one who had her only coronation in Rio in 2016, and now has four lost finals.

“Black Beast”

Having entered the match directly in the quarter-finals, she was fast against the German Isabell Thal, spending less than a minute on the tatami. We found her again in the first half at the end of the morning against the Chinese Li Liqing, who had already been crossed and beaten in the restart budokan Tokyo. After six seconds of fighting, he took a waza-ari and found himself with his back against the wall. Often brought to the ground, the Frenchwoman attacked her rival and then countered a standing attack to equalize before the bell. At the end of an unbearable golden score, the referee validates a counterattack and declares it a winner. Grinning from ear to ear, he was already enjoying this confident charm in front of a screaming audience.

A few minutes later, however, it was with her face closed that we saw her cross the mixed zone without stopping. The national technical director of parajudo, Antoine Hays: “It went back like clockwork. Now there’s the Kazakh, she’s his worry, he’s never beaten her.” A judoka since childhood, Akmaral Nauatbek turned to parajudo in 2022 due to an eye disease. The Baku native already represented her country in international competitions as a junior among the able-bodied. Having entered the Paralympic circuit after Tokyo, she soared above the competition to claim the title of world number 1 and reigning world champion in Paris. A mountain to climb for Martinet.

“As long as my body holds up, I’ll push a little”

6.20pm: The two women finally enter the arena full of energy. Martinet begins his fight amidst an infernal noise, immediately calmed by the domination of Kazakhstan: they didn’t lie to us. The Frenchwoman in blue judogi was caught twice in less than three minutes of fighting. The pace is once again too high. At the beginning of August we asked him: and when will he retire? “As long as my body holds up, I’ll push a little. I’m still progressing and the pleasure is still there. See you in Los Angeles?