Paris 2024 Paralympics | Sandrine Martinet, French Para judo legend: "I'll do everything I can to win this gold medal in front of my family and friends"

Four-time Paralympic medallist since 2004, Para judokate Sandrine Martinet is a legend in France. A leader in her sport, she is preparing to compete in her sixth Paralympic Games on 5 September on the tatamis of the Champ de Mars Arena. The Montreuil native agreed to be interviewed.

In a few days' time, Sandrine Martinet will begin her final preparation for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. A specialist in Para judo, the 41-year-old visually impaired sportswoman has actually scheduled a training course from 26 August to 1 September at INSEP, in the Bois de Vincennes. The experienced four-time Paralympic medallist and flag-bearer for Tokyo 2020 is aiming for a fifth medal in the -48 kg category.

Sandrine Martinet, who has her heart set on a podium finish in front of her children aged 14 and 10, talks to Olympics.com just days before her big challenge. Interview.

• Can you tell us about your disability and how you got into judo?

I was born visually impaired. In a nutshell, I have achromatopsia, which means I have no cones. This leads to three things: a lack of colour vision, photosensitivity and reduced visual acuity. What's more, I have myopia and astigmatism. That said, I started judo at the age of 9. My brothers used to do it at secondary school, so that made me want to discover this discipline. Unlike ball sports, it seemed to me to have fewer visual difficulties. Doing a combat sport appealed to me, it suited me as a sport lover in general. The moral code of judo, for the little girl that I was, I say to myself with hindsight that it enabled me to be less mocked and more integrated.

• You were indeed teased at school for a long time because of your disability...

I was given nicknames like the mole, the snake with glasses, the blind man. The list goes on... I started judo and got hooked straight away. Once you had your hands on the kimono, you could do judo like any other child. I took part in my first able-bodied competitions and then won my first podium finishes. It was the ideal sport for me.

• It was only later that you discovered Para judo: why did it come so late?

My first competition was at the age of 16, when I won as a junior, but lost to the future Paralympic champion, who was older. After that, I gave priority to doing well at school and passing my baccalauréat before going to the French national team, sacrificing my holidays and other things to be able to train. So two years after that first Para judo competition, I passed my baccalauréat S.

• After that, you became a physiotherapist...

When I joined the French national team in 2002, I'd just failed my DEUG year. It was very difficult for me both visually and to follow the courses themselves. I had to repeat the year and had very few hours of lessons. That's when I said to myself and my club that I could go to the French Championships, which I won. I had the World Championships in September in my sights and it was when I joined the French team, exchanging with another athlete, Olivier Cugnon de Sévricourt, that I discovered that special schools for the visually impaired were offering physiotherapy courses. I didn't know that at all. I was integrated into the able-bodied world, but when I found out it was possible, I did everything I could to get there.

• What were they?

In particular, there was the invalidity card, which my parents didn't apply for because they didn't want me to be considered disabled and for that to hold me back in my professional life. I also applied for recognition as a disabled worker and took the necessary steps to get into this physiotherapy school in Pau. That same year, I met my future husband [laughs]!

• What made you love judo?

I liked the fact that it's an opposition sport, but also an individual sport that isn't. You need your opponents and that's what makes judo so special. You need your opponents and your partners to progress. The day-to-day human experience is quite extraordinary. I get a lot of pleasure out of practising in a sport that's so all-encompassing, where you're learning all the time. There are so many possibilities that it's really rewarding. I'm still enjoying myself by practising this sport! There's also, of course, the lure of the podium. Even when you've won everything, you set yourself new challenges.

• At nearly 42, what keeps you going?

There's the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, but also, and I would say above all, the fact that I'm still learning and challenging myself. The human adventure I've been living for years is extraordinary. I intend to push on a bit after the Games, I don't know how far! Now that I've joined the Army of Champions, that I'm finally living off my sport and that I've put my job on hold? [She pauses] All that makes me want to carry on. Without that, I wouldn't have been able to compete in Paris 2024 because, from a family and sporting point of view, it was unmanageable. I'm still enjoying myself and I'm still credible at international level by continuing to climb the podiums, which means you can keep projecting yourself!

• The Army of Champions is also a new team that you're joining...

As a military wife, it makes a lot of sense to me. It's a group with values very close to those of sport. It's quite natural for me to make the link between the Army and the nation. As a physiotherapist myself, it was complicated to get into the administration despite my track record, so I'm very happy to be here!

• What is your objective?

If we push on to Paris, it's to win a medal on home soil, that's our clear objective! It's going to be hard to get gold because the Kazakh woman is very strong, coming from an able-bodied background. So far, no one has managed to beat her, but in a home final with a whole crowd behind her, why not? I'd do anything to win this gold medal in front of my family and friends.

• What is the highlight of your career so far?

I'd say it's everything that's happened over the last 20 years, the human adventure. Everything that my sport and sport has taught me, all those moments, the difficult ones and the very happy ones, is what has forged me, shaped me, made me stronger and helped me move forward in my life. I like to focus not on one event, but on the whole journey!

• Finally, can you explain what makes Para judo different from Olympic judo?

The fact that the guard is up from the start of the fight. That's the only fundamental difference. It gives us tactile information and means we're not at a distance where we can't see the other judoka moving around. When we're close to leaving the mat, too, the referee warns us until we move away. Depending on whether you hear it from the front or the back, you know whether it's for you or your opponent. At that point, you have to make a deliberate change of direction that is visible to the referee so as not to be penalised for going off the mat.