You do not know me.
Imagine yourself in a bar.
I’m hustling you.
Have I really drunk too much?
Yes. Probably with green tea.
I only see half of you,
and double.
Alas,
I will disappoint you.
I have to tell you something.
I have a disability.
Yes,
I am han-di-ca-pee,
null, incapable.
Child, I had a plan.
I saw myself finishing my studies,
to make a good living,
to marry me, to have children.
At the time, everything was fine.
I had good grades at school.
I won prizes at riding competitions
and, moreover, icing on the cake,
I liked boys!
Certainly, I felt victim of the jealousy of others.
The beautiful life that I led
had an end.
The reality being different,
my life then resembled a roller coaster.
A traffic accident,
a sentimental break,
an agression,
and the accident.
The fall.
In 2008,
I was in Swiss team, with juniors,
in training.
I was going from competition to competition,
training drive.
During a session, suddenly,
my horse reared.
He turned on me,
600 kilos,
half a ton of muscle and bone.
I was given for dead.
Such is the closeness between life and death,
the day and the night,
dream and hell.
The peaceful life I led then
had suddenly turned into a furious beast.
Helicopter at the hospital,
I went to the scanner.
The diagnosis was severe:
head trauma.
I had to undergo an operation.
The surgeon removed a piece of the skull
and freeze it at -70 degrees.
During that time,
I was sleeping.
Not like every night,
I was in a coma.
A situation so tragic,
because we do not know when we are going to wake up.
After three days?
Three weeks ?
Three years ?
Or never ?
Luckily, after a month,
I opened an eye.
I said my first word.
It was a party.
The same as a child
who says his first word.
Wow!
It was a great moment for my parents.
Admittedly, the rehabilitation would be long.
I did not get up from my bed like every morning.
I took two months to regain consciousness.
Two months
during which I was confused,
totally confused.
I was angry.
I was shouting.
I shouted orders to the nurses.
I knocked whoever approached me.
And finally, my mom had to negotiate with me
as with children, with chocolates.
Yes, but it did not last long.
I was depressed.
I wanted to die.
Nothing was possible.
I could not do anything anymore.
I was not worth it.
At this moment,
it’s my mom who made the click.
She brought me home
for a weekend.
Only a weekend.
To find myself in my family environment,
the setting [where] I lived every day,
through a visit to my dear horse,
before going back to the hospital,
was for me a revelation.
Since,
I found consciousness,
but above all, motivation.
Next week,
I did all the therapies.
In short, I wanted to move on.
At this moment,
I understood what neuroplasticity meant.
It’s the brain’s ability to create new connections.
From that moment,
for me it meant that everything is possible.
Yes all.
To return to life
and relearn the simplest gestures,
that we do everyday:
hold a fork, go to the bathroom,
or cook an egg.
I had to relearn everything.
A long and difficult path.
He would sometimes be painful.
But I wanted to move on.
During the war, Churchill said:
“A pessimist sees the difficulty in the opportunity.
An optimist sees the opportunity in the difficulty. “
What was the matter with the horse?
Of course, I could have hated him.
He was the source of my troubles.
But he was also a very good therapist,
a very good doctor,
psychologist,
but mostly, my best friend.
I spoke to him.
I gave him food,
kisses,
caressed him.
I confided all my secrets to him.
That was the closeness of my captivating relationship
with my horse.
In 2010,
I was able to resume high level competition.
Not with the valid ones,
but in sport-handicap.
I wanted to inspire others,
others in the same situation as me,
that we could continue our life,
continue and resume operations.
I participated in two competitions
and I was qualified for the first time
for the World Equestrian Games.
They were in Kentucky!
United States !
We had to cross the ocean.
Yes, anything is possible.
I won fourth place.
Afterwards,
I realized
that I had walked a difficult path,
that I came from far away.
[” Everything is possible “.]
I wanted to help other people.
So for you,
I published my autobiography:
” Step by step “.
Yes,
step by step.
I saw, from the beginning,
a long black and dark tunnel.
And at the end,
there was a small light, bright and bright.
And that was my goal,
where I wanted to go.
Every progress, every step forward was for me a victory
to go much further.
Certainly,
the challenges were not over.
This was marked by the divorce of my parents.
It meant breaking up with dad.
Or rather, his break with me.
It was terrible,
difficult,
unacceptable.
However,
I had to move on.
I found myself without training.
I did not make money, and I had the financial burden of a horse.
Instinctively,
I quickly realized
that I had to create my place,
gain visibility,
to hope, one day, to have support.
In 2012,
a friend offered to participate in the Miss Handicap election.
Another beauty contest!
(Sighs)
I did not know what to do.
Certainly,
I discovered that it was luck
to eventually become the ambassador for people with disabilities.
From the day I was crowned,
I invest myself for our equality
and our inclusion in society.
Sensitize people to disability.
To dare to approach it.
Do not be afraid.
From that moment,
in parallel, after giving a lot,
I got support!
It was wonderful !
I received everything I had given!
It was, for me, the second chance
to resume my sports career in hand.
Yes, sports career.
I wanted it.
I went along.
And I trained, every day,
without ever letting go.
I knew what my goal was.
And all the more, I loved the challenges.
Sportsmen especially,
professionals too,
and personal.
I like to start, it helps to move forward.
You too, dare to challenge yourself.
I dared to challenge myself
to fulfill my teenage dream:
at fifteen, I dreamed of the Olympic Games.
Certainly, a little differently, today.
We will talk more about the Paralympic Games.
The path was still long.
I qualified for all major championships.
Europeans, the worlds.
It was on the right track.
Nevertheless, the qualification
for Rio 2016
was complicated.
First of all, I had to qualify a place for Switzerland.
It’s a quota story at the international level.
Once this one in your pocket,
still it was necessary to remain the best Swiss,
in order to hope to be there one day.
One month before our departure,
I knew I was qualified.
I could fly to Brazil
with the horse of my life,
“Amanta”.
Be in the middle of this Olympic stadium
was for me magic,
a real reward for all the efforts I had made.
I am speaking to you.
Ladies and gentlemen,
I invite you to like all the activities you do
with passion and conviction,
to be enthusiastic and positive in all circumstances,
and to address the challenges of life
with confidence in the future.
Remember:
everything is possible.
(Applause)
”
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