Going for gold!

Jean-Yves Le Meur of CERN's IT Department will be competing in the Sitting Alpine Ski events at the upcoming Paralympic Winter Games. After one of his arms was left paralysed by shoulder surgery last year, simply taking part represents an extraordinary achievement.

You've seen 'The Incredibles'at the movies? Now meet Mr. Incredible in real life! From 10 to 19 March in Turin, Jean-Yves Le Meur (IT-UDS) will take part in his second Paralympic Winter Games, after Salt Lake City in 2002. He will be one of the 10 disabled sports champions selected to represent France in the Alpine ski events, competing in the sitting categories of the Giant Slalom and Special Slalom. But this time around, Jean-Yves needed even more determination than for any of his previous competitions, as a shoulder operation he underwent last year left him without full use of his left arm until as recently as December.

In 1988, Jean-Yves was the victim of a train accident and had to have his right leg and left foot amputated. Until then he had never skied before in his life. 'But I already loved the mountains', he explains, 'and had always been a keen summer hiker and climber.'In 1990, fed up with being left back at the chalet while his friends were out skiing, he decided to find out whether he too could experience the thrill of the ski slopes. 'I made a few phone calls and eventually came across this very rudimentary device. Sitting skiing was very much in its infancy in those days', he recalls. And so, through intense training, requiring bundles of determination and a burning desire to win, Jean-Yves rose to the top of the disabled ski rankings and won several French, European and World Championship titles. At the last Paralympic Winter Games, he fell during his descent and unfortunately was unable to complete the competition.

His participation in the forthcoming Games was in serious jeopardy following his shoulder surgery last year. In August, he couldn't so much as lift his arm or move his wrist or hand; all he could do was flex his biceps. Since then, he has followed an intensive rehabilitation programme and at long last has virtually recovered the use of his arm. In January he got back on his monoski and resumed training. To prevent his still-weak left hand from letting go of the outrigger, Jean-Yves's physiotherapist had to install a mechanism attaching the outrigger to his arm.

But hadn't the qualifying races for the Games already taken place? Not a problem! Jean-Yves managed to enter in the nick of time and went on to win a European Cup Special Slalom, thereby booking his ticket for Turin. 'I was very lucky,'he explains (far too) modestly. 'I just took more care than my rivals because of my arm. The course was particularly tough and all the favourites fell.'Even so, Jean-Yves still managed to place 3rd, 4th and 5th in the other races.

Jean-Yves's Paralympic races take place on 17 amd 19 March. No doubt emotions will be running high in both his clubs - the Ski Club de Gex and the Club handisport de Cluses - as well as at CERN.

These races and all the other events at the Paralympic Winter Games can be seen live on the Web via the International Paralympic Committee website:

The competitions of the French team and the opening and closing ceremonies will be shown live by TV8 Mont Blanc.

Everyone at CERN wishes Jean-Yves the very best!