2024-02-12 17:34:52
The parabiathlete and para-distance runner won three silver medals at the beginning of February during the first stage of the cross-country skiing World Cup in Martell-Val Martello (Italy). He regrets the lack of recognition towards disabled athletes on the international circuit.
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Finish on the podium of a World Cup stage and leave with a crate of apples as a reward. Here is the allocation received by the parabiathlete and paraglider Benjamin Daviet, during the first stage of the Nordic Paraski and Parabiathlon World Cup, which took place between the end of January and the beginning of February. Exasperated by this recurring lack of consideration, the five-time Paralympic champion let out a rant on X (formerly Twitter) on Sunday February 10.
“200 days before the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games and, in all likelihood, six years before the Winter Games in France, I am sharing with you a photo of my podium in Martell a week ago. At my feet, a crate of apples. That’s nothing more and nothing less than the reward for para skiers who achieve podium finishes.” he wrote on his account, publishing the photo of his podium dated February 4.
“Apart from the fact that our competitions take place in the most complete anonymity, without the slightest broadcasting device, without the slightest media, the value of our sporting results, of our relentless investment, is contained in this fund… As it is just frightening to still be there, I prefer to laugh regarding it… And luckily, it turns out that I make very good apple pies!”, he once more tried to play down.
“We are never valued”
During this Para Cross-Country Skiing World Cup stage in Martell-Val Martello, Benjamin Daviet finished second in the classic KO sprint and the pursuit sprint (cross-country skiing) then in the middle parabiathlon (10 km). Three podiums in eight races, and therefore as many crates of apples won. “We are never valued in relation to our results. I have been with the French team for 13 years. I have 71 podiums in the World Cup, including 36 victories, and 23 medals at the Worlds, including nine world champions, and the only medal bonuses we have had date back to 2022, during the world championships in Norway on the initiative of the Norwegian Federation [environ 750 euros pour le vainqueur]. That’s all. We thought that would get things going, but that wasn’t the case.” he regrets, bitterly.
Except “apple crates, jam jars, chocolates and flowers” that athletes can receive, “rewards worthy of the French championships” he quips, athletes do not receive any bonuses on the World Cup circuit, as well as during the world championships. Only Paralympic medalists receive a bonus from the French State, equal to Olympic medalists. For the rest, athletes depend on state aid via the National Sports Agency (ANS), professional integration agreements (which allow athletes to be employees of an administration, a community or of a company and to benefit from an arrangement of their working time) and contracts with partners.
But each case is particular, depending on the disciplines, the media coverage and also the athlete’s track record. “We are not asking for fairness between able-bodied and para athletes, because we know that in terms of audience, public, we do not generate as much as the able-bodied.”
“We are not asking to earn thousands but simply to have a minimum of recognition for our performances.”
Benjamin Daviet, five-time Paralympic cross-country skiing and biathlon championat Franceinfo: sport
“We do the same sport as an able-bodied athlete, with the same results. We run for our country,” continues Benjamin Daviet, who nevertheless welcomes France’s financial support for its disabled athletes.
Take advantage of the 2024 and 2030 Games to initiate change
Beyond the bonuses, the parabiathlete regrets a double standard. If previously the International Paralympic Committee (IPC) managed the World Cup stages, it decided to leave control to the federations, such as the International Ski Federation (FIS) and the International Biathlon Union (IBU). Lhe change of the international calendar (condensed into five weeks), the cancellation of World Cup stages without postponement and the means lower than those of the able-bodied are all subjects of inequality.
“Being attached to the international federations should have been an opportunity for us in terms of media coverage, but the FIS and the IBU do not use it as such. We have just come from a World Cup stage and we have not of videos to give to the media, the results are complicated to find. It is not readable”, deplores the athlete.
“If no one does anything, nothing will happen, he points. We must initiate change. With the Summer Games in Paris, then the Winter Games in 2030, we have a way to turn things around. We are told that there is no next generation, not enough young people, but at what point do we want to perform at a high level when athletes have such low recognition and rewards?” asks the current runner-up in the general classification in biathlon. If for the moment, his speech has not found the expected response, it has nevertheless touched the Minister of Sports and the Olympic and Paralympic Games, Amélie Oudéa-Castéra, who has undertaken to discuss with him to TO DO “move things forward”.
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