He is one of the Frenchmen to watch at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games. One of the leaders of the French men's wheelchair basketball team, Sofyane Mehiaoui could well bring a medal to the French camp. And why not in gold? This will involve a tough Olympic tournament featuring eight nations, from 29 August to 8 September 2024 at the Arena Bercy (Paris 12e).
Selected for the Games of Paris 2024, Sofyane Mehiaoui will be able to share some valuable experience. At the age of 40, the player has enjoyed a career spanning more than two decades. His high level of play has enabled him to play abroad, for prestigious clubs such as Italy's Santa Lucia Sport Roma and Turkey's Galatasaray, with whom he has collected numerous national titles - including 7 foreign championships - and two EuroCups, the elite of wheelchair basketball at continental level.
Now a member of the Hurricane 92 club in Gennevilliers, north of Paris, Sofyane Mehiaoui is relishing a career that has "enabled him to travel and speak several languages". All thanks to wheelchair basketball, which has given him "so much". So he wanted to give something back.
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In 2021, he created the Paris Basket Fauteuil in the 18th arrondissement. It's where it all began for him... or almost. "I grew up in the 18th arrondissement, but I didn't have a club near my home," he says. The PBF is there to fill the gap, with "the aim of helping young people with disabilities in the 18th arrondissement".
He believes that the Paralympic Games (28 August to 8 September 2024) can give a major boost to the recognition of disability in French society: "The fact that the Paralympic Games are being held in Paris means that when we talk about top-level sport and performance, we are bound to talk about accessibility... And things are moving. And things are moving, thanks in part to people like Sofyane Mehiaoui.
