Elodie Lorandi

Started: She began swimming at age three. (womensports.fr, 25 Feb 2020) Reason: She originally competed in non-Para swimming before switching to Para swimming at age 15. (womensports.fr, 25 Feb 2020) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (Facebook profile, 21 Jan 2021) Awards: In 2023 the Complexe Aqualudique Elodie Lorandi [Elodie Lorandi Aquatic Complex] in Cenon, France, was named in her honour. (aqui.fr, 04 Jul 2023) In 2013 she was named a Knight of the Legion of Honour in France following her performances at the 2012 Paralympic Games in London. (associationadrien.org, 21 Sep 2013) Additional Info: BREAK AND CHANGE OF PERSPECTIVE Following the one-year postponement of the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, she decided to take a break from the sport to start a family. She gave birth to her daughter Naia in April 2021, but she did not return to competition until June 2023 after suffering from a period of depression and was also diagnosed with the autoimmune condition Hashimoto's disease. She said she returned to the sport with a new outlook. "I was willing to come back. I have achieved so many things in my life and once my daughter was born, I already had everything. So now everything that may come is a bonus. I continue to be ambitious but I want to approach things differently in a not so common way as the others. I still want to give joy to the people that surround and support me. But I don't feel now the same pressure as before when it was all a sort of quest, a way of gaining recognition. Now I don't care about that anymore." (lequipe.fr, 06 Jun 2023) SWIMMING TO ROWING AND BACK In 2018 she decided to switch from Para swimming to Para rowing after struggling with motivation in Para swimming. After competing in Para rowing for around two years and helping the PR3 coxed four mixed team qualify for the 2020 Paralympic Games in Tokyo, she decided to return to Para swimming in January 2020. "I felt sort of fed up with swimming, like I had come full circle. I just didn't care about going to training anymore. I tried rowing because I was offered to try it. It all went well at the beginning, but then I realised it was not actually my type of environment, and the values were not quite the same. Maybe I was expecting too much, and it was also complicated for me to access the training location as I finished my studies too late at night. Over time I slowly returned to swimming in a club in Cannes and I realised that I missed it. But the rowing coach didn't accept that I take part in both sports, and so I felt alone and called my former swimming coach before deciding to return to swimming. I rediscovered the pleasure in swimming, something that I had lost." (Nice-Matin, 11 Feb 2020) FURTHER STUDIES She studied for a degree as a childcare assistant at the Institute of Formation of Professions for Child and Adolescence [IFMEA] in Nice, France. (Nice-Matin, 11 Feb 2020)