silver for the table tennis player Lucas Didier, the fourth medal of the family – Libération

2024-09-07 15:24:00

Younger brother of three-time medalist swimmer Ugo Didier, Lucas climbed to the second step of the podium this Saturday 7 September after losing in the final of the para-table tennis tournament (category S9).

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The pace was too high, the equation unsolvable. Even before entering a hot and packed room this Saturday 7 September, in pavilion 4 of the Porte de Versailles exhibition center in the south of Paris, Lucas Didier knew well that the challenge offered to him was impossible for him: to achieve what he did not falters never falters, to unlock the indestructible. In front of him, in the final of the S9 category, the Belgian Laurens Devos, 24 years old, two-time Paralympic champion, undefeated for more than seven years in the Paralympics, and 413th in the world among able-bodied athletes. The Frenchman said he hoped “shake it at least a little”. We didn’t really see it: shortly after 5pm, Laurens Devos won in three sets (9-11; 7-11; 7-11) and won his third consecutive Paralympic gold medal – he was only 16 when won his first title, in Rio.

Lucas Didier didn’t take this defeat badly. Far from it: at the beginning of the day, immediately after eliminating the Australian Ma Lin in five sets, he told us of his surprise, almost, in finding himself in the Paralympic final. Her other half, he had approached her “defeatist” with the simple goal of “stay on the playing area as long as possible” to take advantage of an audience that fears they will never find again: 7,000 people screaming your name and jumping at every point doesn’t happen every day.

Beyond the guaranteed silver, the most prestigious medal brought by the French table tennis delegation during these Games, qualification for the final therefore above all offered her a small half hour of relief, a final adrenaline rush, a final ovation. “This audience since the beginning of the Games is something crazy. We have the impression that every spectator has drunk a magic potionsmiled the French expert Thu Kamkasomphou (55) after Didier’s semi-final. They’re all there cheering non-stop for four hours as soon as a Frenchman plays… I don’t know if we’ll ever do something like this again.”

Parents confined to the swimming pool

This silver medal is also the fourth for the prolific Didier family. In the last ten days there has been a lot of talk about Ugo, the eldest of the brothers, who suffers from the same handicap (he was born with club feet and calf atrophy) and who boasts a series of podiums in swimming: a title in the 400 meters freestyle , two second places in the 100 meter backstroke and 200 meter medley. Lucas also made a name for himself with the silver medal.

His only final, however, his parents followed a few kilometers away, from the stands of the Arena de La Défense, where Ugo Didier competes this Saturday evening (at 8.34pm) in his last match of the Games, the mixed Relay 4×100 meters free swimming. I don’t see any preference among their offspring: “I sent them, they stress me out too much when they’re with meLucas Didier told us late Saturday morning. They know how to do it: they keep one eye on my game on video, the other on the pool.”