Paris 2024 Paralympics | They will give us chills: Axel Bourlon

Herculean strength and an iron will.

That's how his friends describe him, and they emphasise the extent to which Axel Bourlon can be both pleasant and charming, but also determined and combative.
Axel was born in Roanne on 14 March 1991. As soon as he was born, the doctors diagnosed him with achondroplasia, a genetic disease that hinders the development of bones and limbs and leads to dwarfism. As a child, wanting to learn to swim, he was advised to strengthen his back muscles by weightlifting. And that's what he's going to do, within his club the Handisport Roannais, with increasing pleasure and success. Even if, as he readily admits today, he still can't swim any better...

From fifty to 165 kilos

Lifting bars became a passion, and the results followed, with spectacular progress: at his first French championships, in 2007 in Mont de Marsan, he lifted a 50kg bar. Ten years later, he has lifted 165kg of cast iron at the end of his arms.

His speciality is the bench press. At his first international competition, in Berck in 2018, he won silver at the European Championships. A year later, at the World Championships, he finished 6th in his under 54kg category. He was also selected for the Tokyo Paralympic Games, where he climbed onto the second step of the podium.

The level continues to rise

Last June, at a competition in Georgia, Axel Bourlon lifted 169kg. This placed him 6th in the world this year, and above all opened the doors to the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games, where only the eight best in the world are selected. In Paris, the Roanne native is expecting a tough competition, probably even tougher than in Tokyo. "It's great, it will spice up the game," he told the local press in Roanne. "And I've improved too, I've gone up a notch".

Axel knows that he can go much further and heavier than the 169kg; on 1 June, during his 15th victory at the French Championships, he pushed 173kg. With such certainty, and the support of his fans, the dream is possible!