The city of Vichy (Allier) is preparing to host from June 4 to 10, and for the first time in France, the sixth Global Games, the biggest sporting event for athletes with mental disabilities.
Organized with great fanfare and bringing together more than 50 nations around the world, these Global Games are not, however, simple “Substitute Paralympic Games”insists Marc Truffaut, president of the French Federation of Adapted Sport (FFSA). “These events are qualifying in the rare disciplinespresent at the Games (like table tennis Editor’s note), he recalls. And if, for all the others, these Global Games indeed represent the biggest event, we must not make athletes with mental disabilities believe that these are their Games. » He, on the other hand, is fighting for the Paralympic Games to become more inclusive.
Underrepresented mental disability
In fact, the path remains long. Abandoned from the Paralympic Games for twelve years from 2000 to 2012, athletes with mental disabilities are struggling to rediscover the flavors of Olympism. It all started with their exclusion from the Sydney games. That year, the Spanish basketball team had won the gold medal following a gross fraud: ten of its twelve players were, in fact, able-bodied. The revelation of the scandal by an undercover journalist sealed the fate of mental disability at the Games. Until his discreet return to London in 2012.
During the last Games of 2021 in Tokyo, only 21 Olympic titles were awarded to athletes with mental disabilities, out of the 539 at stake. Out of 4,400 participants, only 120 mentally challenged athletes took part in the events.
The number of events where they had been authorized to compete had already increased by 50% compared to previous games, had defended the International Paralympic Committee (ICP): “No other disability group has enjoyed such an increase in medal count at the Paralympic Games during this period. »
Many associations linked to mental handicap denounce, they, a desert. “My first discussions on the place of sport adapted to the mentally handicapped date back to 2017, when Paris had just been definitively chosen to organize the Games.remembers Renato Castellani, member of the Board of Directors of the National Union of Associations of Parents of Maladjusted Childhood (Unapei). And since then, each time, we find ourselves confronted with a wall. »
At the time, he had however challenged the Minister of Sports Roxana Maracineanu by explaining to her the situation of a young judoka, mentally retarded, whose level seemed to open the doors of Olympism to him. “However, I was told: ‘yes, but it’s for the blind!’ I therefore challenged the Minister on the mode of provocation. Should I say to this judoka: “if you want to participate, I have to put your eyes out?” Obviously, she didn’t know what to answer.”grin Renato Castellani.
Today, one year from the Paris 2024 Games, the declared desire to see sport adapted to the mentally handicapped regain its colors remains ” very strong “for Marc Truffaut.
A complex classification
However, the presence of mentally handicapped athletes at the Paralympic Games mainly comes up against the classification of handicaps. The latter are divided into three categories: people with intellectual disabilities alone (II1), people with intellectual disabilities with additional disabilities, such as trisomy 21 (II2), and people with autism without intellectual disabilities (II3).
At the Paralympic Games, only people in the first category are allowed to compete, and in only three disciplines: athletics, swimming and table tennis. “It is regrettable that this is insufficientestimates Geneviève Darrieussecq, minister delegate in charge of the handicap. The FFSA is working to extend the number of disciplines and we can only support this substantive work. But the decision rests with the International Olympic Committee (IOC). France has no control over the events. »
The international body notably sets the number of participants in the events: if a category is added, it will be to the detriment of other disciplines. “That’s not what we want,” insists Marc Truffaut.
Another difficulty, before the Games, each sports federation must open the category of intellectually disabled within its own structure. “However, it is expensive, around €100,000 per discipline”, believes Marc Truffaut. However, wishing to take advantage of the momentum of the Global Games, the latter announces that he wants, for the first time, “to bring all the decision-makers around the table, to study the opening of the Paralympic Games to athletesintellectually disabled with additional disability (II2)».
A lack of visibility
Through these Global Games, the organizers seek, first of all, visibility and significant media coverage, which they know is essential if they want to change the rules of the game. “In 2000, who was talking about the Paralympic Games and disabled sports? Today everyone. We have fallen behind a bit, which we intend to catch up with.”believes Marc Truffaut.
The proof ? 10,000 tickets were sold for the Global Games. The sporting events offered, from swimming to tennis, via karate, will be an opportunity to take another look at disability, in all its facets, including the 80% of “invisible” disabilities, identified by APF. France Disability. “When people see our athletes, they wonder what handicap they have and are sometimes surprised to find that there is nothing apparent or obvious”sums up Marc Truffaut.
If the road to Olympism remains tortuous for adapted sport, “not everything is to be thrown away”according to the manager. “We compare our model each time with that of Anglo-Saxon countries where we confuse inclusion and integration. » Clearly, when all the other countries have chosen to have two separate federations, one for “specific” athletes and the other dedicated to the able-bodied, France has chosen not to oppose each other.
“Here, a federation understands, within itself, the coexistence of valid sport and sports for people with disabilities. This leaves the choice to the person to practice his sport either in a specific, specialized environment and among peers; or, if she prefers, to practice it in an ordinary environmentexplains Marc Truffaut. We actually have a very inclusive system! »
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Adapted sport in numbers
The French Federation of Adapted Sport today has more than 65,000 members, which makes it the largest federation of disabled athletes in France. The French Handisport Federation (FFH) has 36,000 members.
The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games will include 18 events open to people with mental disabilities: 8 in swimming, 8 in athletics and 2 in table tennis.
At the 2019 Global Games in Brisbane (Australia), new classifications were introduced for categories not yet eligible for the Paralympic programme. They will be repeated during the 2023 edition in Vichy.
To date, nearly 50 nations have registered at the Global Games 2023, which represents more than 800 athletes and 400 supervisors.
