At 52 years old, Pierre Fairbank is one of the doyens of Para-sport in France. In more than 30 years of wheelchair sports, he has participated in six Paralympic Games, winning nine medals at those competitions. Fairbank, who says his rigorous training is a major factor in his success, is now aiming for more top-three finishes at the 2024 Games in Paris, which begin a year from Monday.
“I still take pleasure in rolling,” Fairbank told FRANCE 24 during the World Para Athletics Championships at Charléty stadium in Paris on July 14, 2023.
On France’s Bastille Day national holiday, the athlete from the French overseas territory of New Caledonia had just qualified for the T53 (a type of classification meant to ensure that athletes compete against opponents with comparable abilities) 100-metre final, finishing third in his heat.
“It felt good, but I’ll need to raise my level,” Fairbank said shortly after the race. He finished sixth in the final with a time below his expectations. After all these years, he still retains a thirst for the winners’ podium.
Fairbank has tasted victory on numerous occasions in his career. In addition to his nine medals at the Paralympic Games, including a gold in the T53 200-metres in Sydney in 2000, he has won 13 medals while participating in seven Para Athletics World Championships.
Fairbank didn’t make the podium at Charléty in July. However, he found the competition was a valuable “home test” before next year’s Para Athletics World Championships in Kobe, Japan and the Paralympic Games in Paris.
“Everything is well organised (at Charléty), the fans set the mood even though there weren’t that many here. It’s a good rehearsal before next year,” Fairbank said, for “making the final adjustments”.
Still ‘in the running'
For the para athlete, one thing is certain about 2024: the Paris Paralympic Games will be his last. “This will be my last Olympics. I’ll be 53 years old then … I think after that I’ll have other things to do,” he said, laughing.
“It’s been a good part of my life, a great career,” Fairbank said. “I’ve done more than 30 years of wheelchair sports, it’s huge.”
Fairbank contracted myelitis, an inflammation of the spinal cord or bone marrow, at age nine, and began his athletic career at 15. He was first selected for the French team at the 1998 Para Athletics World Championships in Birmingham, UK.
“I live normally, for me. I’ve always been able to sit up, I don’t see myself with a terrible disability,” he said, smiling.
Fairbank went on to make his mark on the history of French Para-sport for more than 30 years, without forgetting to share his experience of high-level achievement with other athletes, including fellow New Caledonian Nicolas Brignone, and with younger audiences as a trained sports educator.
“I'm able to do it because I'm always playing to win, and by training I'm still in the running to do so,” said Fairbank, explaining his longevity.
“It's motivating, and what's more, I always have the support of my coach, my family and New Caledonia,” he said.
Fairbank has also found satisfaction in the technological advances that have enabled athletes to optimise their performances in wheelchairs in recent years.
“I enjoy seeing the equipment evolve, and the way we train, which also changes,” he said.
“I wanted to end my career after each hard-fought Olympics competition, and I told myself that I couldn’t go any faster … but finally, I did,” Fairbank said.
“Every time I go faster, it motivates me to find out how much I can improve. There's still something to work on, whether it’s the equipment, the position (in the wheelchair), the way you hit the wheels…”
Of course, a long career at the highest level requires hard work and consistency. Ahead of the Tokyo Paralympic Games in 2021, French newspaper La Croix reported that Fairbank prepared for the games by living healthily and training three hours a day, six days a week.
“It’s only the work that pays off, the number of hours spent in a discipline,” he said.
Fairbank intends to keep up the work in the year ahead.
“I still need to improve,” he said. “In the 400 metres, I broke my record the day before yesterday (July 12, two days before the competition), and in the 100 metres, I'm finishing with good times.”
“But I'm going to have to raise my level: The first two places (on the podium) are virtually untouchable (editor’s note: they are often occupied by Brazil’s Ariosvaldo Fernandes and Thailand's Pongsakorn Paeyo) and behind them, we're all competing for third place.”
Distinguish yourself and sweat the details in training, then try to reproduce practice performances in competition: Fairbank will need to persist in his approach if he hopes to finish on the podium at the 2024 Paris Games. It’s a conviction he shares when he addresses young athletes. “You just have to be persistent, that's all,” the nine-time Paralympic medallist said. “Young people want to succeed quickly because they see people who shine on social networks. But that’s not how it’s done: there's hard work behind it, long years of training without success, and then one day it comes together."
Fairbank is pleased that this summer’s World Championships and next summer’s Paralympic Games are shining a spotlight on Para-sport – a development that, in his view, is moving “in the right direction”.
“At my first world championships in 1998, there were no spectators and no media,” he said. “Now, there are hours of live coverage (on the French channel L'Équipe TV), the media and people are interested in Para-sport. They’re starting to see it more as a sport than as a kind of rehabilitation.”
Technological progress and improved performances have also made Para-sport “more spectacular than it used to be”, Fairbank said.
“Before, if you went 20 km/h in a wheelchair, you were the king,” he said. “Now, if you don't go 36-37 km/h, you’ll be overwhelmed.”
Fans will need to wait another year to watch Fairbank sprint at the Paralympic Games in Paris. Until then, he said, he will continue "looking for any little details" to improve his wheelchair.
"But I haven't found the secret yet," he concluded with a laugh.
This article has been translated from the original in French.
