Paris 2024 Paralympics | Para cycling - Alexandre Léauté's big ambitions: "I want to win two gold medals or even three"
Expected to be one of the great French stars of the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, 23-year-old Para cyclist Alexandre Léauté is heading into the most important event of his young career with confidence.
Alexandre Léauté, 23, is an ambitious young man. Already a world champion on 19 occasions since the start of his career, the Breton Para cyclist is approaching the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games with confidence. "I know what I have to do and I intend to bring back as many medals as possible to make my mark on my sport. If I succeed, it will be great, and if I don't, it won't keep me awake at night", he explained on Thursday evening during an online press briefing organised from his hotel room in Lille, where he is taking part in his final preparation camp.
A four-time Paralympic medallist at the Tokyo 2020 Games, the Frenchman, who suffered a stroke at birth and is deprived of 95% of the power in his right leg, is hoping to put in better performances on the track at the Saint-Quentin-en-Yvelines Velodrome and on the roads of Clichy-sous-Bois.
"I'm not going to hide the fact that I want to win two gold medals, or even three, says Alexandre Léauté, who will be competing in the pursuit, the kilometre and the team sprint on the track, followed by the time trial and the road race. That will be my number one objective in the pursuit, where I am the reigning Paralympic champion and world record holder, and also in the road time trial. As for the rest, I want to enjoy myself, especially in the team sprint."
No opening ceremony for Alexandre Léauté
Although he hopes to enjoy the competition immensely, Alexandre Léauté will not be taking part in the opening ceremony scheduled for the evening of Wednesday 28 August at Place de la Concorde. This was a collective decision taken by the entire French Para cycling team to spare the bodies and minds of the athletes just a few hours before the start of the competition.
"Nobody realises it, but a real dynamic has been created in the group, said the French Para cyclist. There are a lot of us who have the potential to win medals. I'm not really allowed to say it, but I'll say it anyway: we're aiming for 25 medals in total! That's a lot, so we'll have chances every day, and we'll all be pushing each other."
"I'd like people to remember me as Alexandre Léauté and not as the Léon Marchand of the Paralympics"
If the French team, and Alexandre Léauté in particular, are to shine, the public is expected to turn out in force. "I hope they'll turn out for both the Paralympics and the Olympics. There's a real enthusiasm that we don't yet realise, so we're going to have to be psychologically ready when we arrive on site, he warns. It's going to be great, especially as my family, which is rare, will be there!"
Two buses, totalling around a hundred people, have also been announced from Brittany to come and cheer on the local lad.
"I'm very happy to have them in the stands. It can give me extra strength", hopes the boss of world Para cycling. And what if he were to reap the rewards and become the Léon Marchand of the Paralympics? "I don't really like the comparison and I'd like people to remember me as Alexandre Léauté and not as the Léon Marchand of the Paralympics, he replies straight away. I'm a fan of that guy, but Léon Marchand achieved great things and Alexandre Léauté is going to achieve great things."