He will soon realize one of his biggest dreams, despite his illness: Matthieu Travers, 32, will be one of the 11,000 torchbearers who will accompany the Olympic flame to Paris.
In exactly six months, on July 26, the Olympic flame will arrive here, on the banks of the Seine, for the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games. After being lit in Greece, the torch will travel by boat to Marseille and will begin a long tour of France.
Matthieu Travers was selected to be one of the more than 11,000 torchbearers who will take turns accompanying this Olympic symbol to the host city.
“To tell the truth, I had tears in my eyes, because for me the Olympic Games are the history of sport. And to think that in my small way, over 200 meters, for 4 minutes, I am going to be a part of this story… When I heard this, I was very moved” he explains.
Since his birth 32 years ago, Mattthieu has suffered from a genetic neuromuscular disease. But that hasn’t stopped him from being active online, thanks to advances in science… or even from going to stadiums when they are accessible.
“Each time, I try to immortalize the memories by taking a few photos. We have Rafael Nadal, Carlos Moya, Benoît Paire… And my idol, Paul-Henry Matthieu, who is a French tennis player” he said, showing his photos taken with his sporting heroes.
A passion for sport that helped him surpass doctors’ predictions.
“My parents were told not to get attached to their child because he would have died before the age of two. Well, the doctors were a little wrong, because I’m still here. When I was young , I obviously couldn’t do many activities. But watching sports on TV kept me busy from a very young age and it fascinated me. I always told my family and friends: “To I’m not going to die anyway, I’ve never been to the Olympics.”
Matthieu will also be following the Paralympic Games which he hopes will further improve the lot of people with disabilities.
“This can help a lot, particularly in the area of disability. This has already allowed us to see that our public transport was poorly accessible or not at all. And this will allow us, as others have done before us, such as London and Beijing, to evolve and become more accessible to people with disabilities” adds Matthieu.
While waiting for the flame and the athletes to arrive, he continues to feed his YouTube channel. He talks about disability, home automation… and of course sport!