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The Paris 2024 Paralympic Games begin on August 28. It provides an opportunity for spectators and viewers to discover the athletes who will mark the competition.
Like the Olympic Games, which closed on August 11, the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games are also entitled to an opening ceremony. And just this Wednesday, August 28, the competition began, with various artistic performances and after the traditional parade of sports delegations led by their flag bearer.
Gabriel dos Santos Araujo especially attracted attention among the athletes assigned to fulfill this special role. And for good reason, at the age of 22, the Brazilian is already a Paralympic swimming star. After winning two gold medals and one silver medal at the 2021 Tokyo Games, the Paralympian is now aiming for a hat-trick in Paris.
nicknamed Gabrielzinho (little Gabriel, Editor’s note) due to its small size, the swimmer suffers from phocomelia, a defect caused by the cessation of development of one or more limbs during pregnancy. “I found out about it when I was five months pregnant,” her mother Ineida Magda dos Santos, a retired teacher, told AFP. Obviously it was a shock, but then I started reading up on the subject to be prepared to take care of him as best as I could.”
“At the age of four or five, he already knew how to swim”
Gabriel dos Santos Araujo, able to walk on his own two legs, thus has atrophied legs and trunks at shoulder level. “Because we wanted him to have a normal childhood, we took him to a club with a swimming pool. At the age of four or five, he already knew how to swim, even though he had no hands. I believe it’s a gift he received from God,” she marvels. To swim, Gabrielzinho undulates in the water like a dolphin with pelvic movements. Technique developed during long training sessions six times a week, Monday through Saturday. In the pool as well as outside, she does strength exercises, particularly for the lower back, abdomen and pelvic floor.
It was in 2015, when he was just 13 years old, that Gabriel Araujo discovered competition during a school tournament. “A teacher entered him without consulting me and he won five medals. Since then, he has not stopped,” concludes the mother.
Source: Le Figaro
