“Good revenge!” Alexandra St-Pierre of Rouen, world champion in table tennis for the disabled

TT5 wheelchair tennis player Alexandra St-Pierre celebrated her winning move in the final of the World Disabled Championship in Granada (Spain) on November 12th. The result of a dazzling journey of four years of physical effort backed by a steely mind. With a gold medal around her neck, at 24, Rouenez, who has been licensed by the Bois-Guillaume Tennis Club, is now aiming to qualify for the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

Reconstruction through sports

Born in Flixecourt (aged 80), Alexandra St-Pierre was already playing table tennis and preparing for a healthy career. After only a few illnesses, she became the victim of the first traffic accident in August 2017, which left a deep mark on her, followed by an attack at her school in February 2018: “I had PTSD, which is still being processed. I no longer wanted to leave my house,” recalls the young woman.

In October 2018, misfortune will befall her again. Alexandra is injured. The consequences are tragic as she finds herself confined to a wheelchair. After leaving the hospital, Picard decided to settle in Rouen. In January 2019, she decided to return to the sport and signed up for SPO Rouen Table Tennis, where she met her coach Guillaume Marais. Determining the future…

“Sport has helped me reconnect socially and rebuild myself. Even though I had the basics of table tennis, I had to learn wheelchair technique and understand table height and field of view. He represented hours and hours of instruction from Monday to Friday. All this I owe to Guillaume. That’s why he entered me on March 30, 2019 in a competition that I won.

Dazzling trajectory

On May 18, 2019, for her first French Championships in Roanne, Alexandra returned home with a bronze medal, which “showed that the efforts had paid off and gave me hope for the future.” Noticing, she received registration in the list of high-level athletes in the French Federation of Hand Sports (FFH). A few months later, she followed her coach to the Bois-Guillaume tennis club (near Rouen), where the Paris 2024 Olympics were already in her mind.

However, the health crisis will turn everything upside down: “It was a difficult period. I continued to train almost fifteen hours a week, but why? It was no longer possible to assess his level against the background of his rivals, ”the table tennis player recalls bitterly. But nothing shook Alexandra. As soon as the competition resumed, the champion equalized the results, in particular with six gold medals in the seven-participant international competition: “That was my goal for 2021. It was written in my head. I wanted to do my best to qualify for the 2022 World Cup.”

Master the tension

Alexandra won the bet. From November 6 to 12, Rouenez performed for the first time in the mixed doubles with her compatriot Fabien Lamiro. The duo will go straight against the Turkish pair Abdulla Ozturk and Nergiz Altintash with a score of 3-0. Then in women’s doubles with her regular partner Flora Wautier, the French won the bronze medal after a 3-1 loss to the Koreans Jiyu Yun/Yang Yung “who were without a doubt taller than us”.

On Wednesday, November 9, Alexandra was seeded number 3 when Alexandra entered the women’s singles table. Then she beat Argentina’s Nyla Quell in the quarter-finals 3-1 when I was very tense. I had a lot of trouble getting started.” The score will be the same at 1/2 against her best enemy, No. 2 seeded Korean Sunghye Moon: “This is the match I was afraid of. We met four times and we were connected. It was a beauty that I prepared well. I leave a set there. It was in my head, ”recalls Alexandra.

But it still happens! So, in the final, the para-athlete was face to face with the Thai Panwas Ringam: “I already won 3-2 at the French Open. She has a special game. So, despite my stress, I told myself that we should not waste time. With a score of 3:0, Alexandra experienced this victory “as a liberation. You feel your heart beat in anticipation of your first Marseillaise. I allowed myself to shed a few tears, but especially I thought about my family, my coach and my journey. It’s good revenge.”

After a few days of rest, the athlete has already returned to training and is already signed up for local competitions: “Now I will be a target for four years. Everyone wants to beat me [rires]. But, as Guillaume told me from the last point of the finale, we don’t stop there ! We are preparing for the European Championships in England in September 2023 and especially for the Paralympic Games in Paris 2024. This is still my real goal. This gold medal will help me, because today I am going to the elite.” See you from August 28 to September 8, 2024!