Gaelle Edon

Started: She was involved in a number of sports during her childhood, and first got into Para sport in 2015 through Para athletics and Para rowing. She began sport shooting in October 2016, and in February 2017 she won her first national French shooting Para sport title in the 10m air pistol event. She was then identified by national federation coaches, who invited her to join the national team. (fondationbanquepopulaire.fr, 20 Sep 2018) Reason: "One day I was invited to come and try shooting. I went along, and it pleased me straight away, so I signed up to a club. What I like about it is the concentration, you get into your little bubble and you forget all the little problems in life. It's the only sport that can do that. When I shoot, I'm calm and in my little bubble, cut off from the world. You have to clear your mind of everything. You have to immerse yourself in a self-contained bubble like a fish. It's the same feeling you have when you're mountain climbing and find yourself on a very difficult stretch when you have to be totally focused on your movements to the exclusion of everything else. The pistol becomes an extension of my own body." (groupebpce.com, 2022; fondationbanquepopulaire.fr, 20 Sep 2018) Ambition: To compete at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (montagnes-magazine.com, 19 Dec 2019) Additional Info: MOUNTAINEER Prior to her accident in 2012, she was a trained mountain rescuer. She has climbed Mont Blanc in Europe, and since acquiring her impairment she has returned to the mountains for a variety of activities, including tandem paragliding and mountaineering adventures. "The mountains are my life. I feel myself in my own element. They allow me to escape. They are a sort of revenge over life." (montagnes-magazine.com, 19 Dec 2019; fondationbanquepopulaire.fr, 20 Sep 2018; ledauphine.com, 21 Oct 2017) OCCUPATION In 2023 she joined the French National Gendarmerie as part of the French Armed Forces' Armee de Champions [Army of Champions] athlete programme. "I am passionate about the gendarmerie, because its values as a profession represent myself. Before my accident I was a gendarmerie reservist and mountain rescuer. I wanted to join the gendarmerie corps but, sadly, I couldn't manage to make it real. That's why I retook my studies in criminal law and criminal sciences, to have the chance of getting back to the gendarmerie. Thanks to this contract with the Armee de Champions I will represent the gendarmerie in competitions. It's a big honour and a big support." (terre.defense.gouv.fr, 04 Apr 2024; fftir.org, 09 Aug 2023; gendarmerie.interieur.gouv.fr, 29 May 2023) ROWING PROTOTYPE She enjoys rowing but initially found the sport difficult to practise on her own due to her impairment. She recruited six mechanical engineering students from the Annecy University Institute of Technology in France to help her design an oar system that would allow her to row on her own. The prototype was successful, which led to it winning the Innovation Award at the 2016 Paris Boat Show in France. She has since founded an association in the Haute-Savoie region of France called La Pelle Tenace [The Tenacious Oar], which is dedicated to introducing rowing to people with or without an impairment. (fondationbanquepopulaire.fr, 20 Sep 2018; cdos74.org, 2017) OTHER ACTIVITIES She has served as vice president of the Connected Parasport Health Institute [ISPC] in Paris, France. "It is an institute that will mobilise a complete ecosystem of medical, scientific, pedagogical and technological skills aimed at the promotion of Para sport and health, and to the detection of high-potential athletes." (univ-grenoble-alpes.fr, 06 Jul 2021) FURTHER EDUCATION She has studied for a master's degree in criminal law at Toulouse Capitole University in France. (groupepce.com, 25 Mar 2022; ut-capitole.fr, 19 Feb 2022)