Celebration of the NPC France’s 25th anniversary

The second annual meeting of the French Paralympic and Sports Committee (CPSF) took place in Lyon, April 24-26. The event brought together nine sports federations (Handisport, Adaptive Sports, Rowing, Badminton, Canoe, Equestrian, Judo, Archery, Shooting, Triathlon) and thirty Paralympic medal winners from Rio 2016 and the last World Championships.

Hats off to CPSF who, with support from the Ministry of Sports and its other partners, achieved its goal of building dialogue between participants, who presented their experiences and built team spirit around paralympic values of inspiration, equality, determination, and courage.

The meeting included time for exchanges, unity, and conviviality, allowing participants to learn from each others’ experiences and to build paralympic pride.

One of the highlights of the second annual meeting took place on Tuesday April 25, with the celebration of the CPSF’s 25th anniversary.

Under the banners of sharing, memory, and the future, numerous personalities made the trip for a warm reception in the Sucrière Hall on the banks of the Saône River in Lyon. Amongst them, Thierry Braillard (Secretary of State for Sports), Andrew Parsons (Vice President of the IFC and President of the Brasilian Paralympic Commitee), Philippe Vinogradoff (Sport Ambassador), and Bernard Lapasset (Co-President of the Paris 2024 Olympic bid).

Celebrating 25 years of the CPSF was also an opportunity to remember where we came from and to measure the path travelled, by honoring the flag bearers and heads of paralympic missions who have passionately led, shaped, and supported French paralympic teams (the ‘Bleus’) since the Paralympic Games in Tignes/ Alberville and Barcelona in 1992.

Emmanuelle Assmann took the opportunity to recall some important dates of the French paralympic movement.

1960 > First Paralympic Games in Rome

1976 > UNESCO establishes the right to practice physical education and sports for physically disabled persons

Since 1989 > the Paralympic Games take place in the same city and at the same sites as the Olympic Games

1989 > creation of the IPC

1992 > Creation of COFLAPSH French Committee for Athletic and Sports Activities for Disabled Persons, presided by André Auberger, which was renamed CPSF in 1996

2009 > Gérard Masson is elected president of the CPSF

2013 > CPSF statutes change to include all federations dedicated to the development of sports for the disabled; today there are 26 member federations

2015 > CPSF is legally recognized in the sports code

2016 > 105 hours live transmission of paralympic competitions from Rio; 13.6million viewers

Emmanuelle Assmann followed with a strong message of unity and collective success with our sights on Paris 2024.

« Together we have already accomplished great things, but more await us, that are even bigger. Together, and with the entire sport movement, we will win the 2024 bid. We want these games and we are ready. I am thrilled that the paralympic movement is central to the bid. With Paris 2024, we can leave an extraordinary legacy for recreational and elite disabled sports, for greater accessibility and infrastructure, and to change perspectives on how we see those with differences. But this adventure only has value because it is collective. »

Also the opportunity to remember that the CPSF was only able to grow thanks to all the vital forces of the French paralympic movement.

« Thank you to the champions, the flag bearers, heads of missions, to the CPSF Board of Directors, and thank you to its employees as well. Because we tend to forget that without them, our soul and spirit could not function. Thank you to our partners because, they, too, have been essential stakeholders in our history. Thank you to the Sports Ministry, to the CNDS and INSEP. Thank you FDJ, Lacoste, Malakoff-Médéric, Toyota, EDF, Société Générale, and to Acecco for its sponsorship in support of professional transition for high level athletes. Thank you to our federation members, I know that, together, we hold high the colors of Paralympism. »

Pride of involvement in the paralympic movement is not only built on performance but also on the power of para-sports to impact society.

All the pictures >> Copyright Grégory Picout