Dimitri Jozwicki, sprinter “7 years of work for 22 seconds of competition!”

At 27, you already have a lot of competition experience and an impressive track record. The year 2024 began with a double French champion title in the 60 meters and 200 meters, indoors, in Brittany, and two new French records…

Dimitri Jozwicki. I arrived in good shape this summer, whereas I wasn’t really in good shape this winter… But you have to believe that I’m a competition man, because I manage to transcend myself (smile)! Since then, in June, at the Paris disabled sports meeting in Charléty, I beat my French record in the 100 meters, and above all achieved a time under 11 seconds, becoming the 5th man in the world, in my category, to achieve this.

Currently, I am in a pretty good position, ranked 3rd in the world. So, at the Paris Paralympic Games, it will be a great race, because there are also several of us who can claim a medal!

What do you think about, on a starting line, just before the detonation?

We have to wait for a firecracker, 70,000 people are screaming your name… The situation is not rational. And we are supposed to stay relaxed… and win! The answer may surprise you, but we must not think about anything other than what we know how to do, let our body express itself, instinct guide us. Sprinting is no longer a natural gesture for human beings, relaxing requires a lot of concentration, it is learned. Because of our handicap, of course, it is even more complex.

It’s also beautiful, for 11 seconds, to fight against something that we have defined for ourselves; because in the end, whatever happens, I will put the word performance next to the word handicap, where often it is only associated with deficiency. With less things, we can do more things. We can start from further away, it doesn’t matter, and still arrive at the same place.

The Paralympic Games are of course about the inclusion of people with disabilities. This can only be achieved by showing that disability is not a burden – or at least not always a burden – and that it is the environment in which the person is placed that creates the disability, even before the physiological, sensory or psychological deficiency. The public present in a stadium, seeing people with disabilities compete and perform, quickly realizes that they would never be able to do the same thing. Performance humanizes us. But we are not superheroes, we are athletes first and foremost. I am Dimitri Jozwicki, with my tetraparesis of course, but I am not my tetraparesis, I am an athlete with tetraparesis. This message, when we have understood it through sport, we will have understood it in all other environments.

When you’re in sprinter mode, what are the moments you enjoy the most?

In big competitions, just before the race, I really like the climate that reigns in the call room, this atmosphere of testosterone: I’m the most muscular, the most handsome, the strongest!… It can last 20 or 40 minutes, we are all together in the same room, without telephone, without earpiece, facing ourselves, facing opponents who want to eat us… It’s an atmosphere that I like!

And once the performance is over, what I like best is to beat my record, I love it! I think there is not much that can give me the same effect as beating it, even by just one hundredth of a second. Athletics is so difficult, so thankless, that when you achieve your goal, by finishing first or last, but you beat your record, you are in your place, no matter what. I like this idea of ​​telling myself: I worked hard and it paid off, and also the adrenaline effect that it gives me, it is a real moment of grace.

Even before the 100 metres, are you already planning for the post-Paris Games period, considering all the scenarios?

I don’t know if we can really be prepared for all possible scenarios, especially for the Games. The human factor is extremely strong, everyone felt it during the Olympic Games. But the French probably didn’t realize how much sport could unite people, in emotion, by putting aside our differences during this period of time. So, even if we necessarily build scenarios, the reality of a competition is played out on the day, neither before nor after. I focus a lot on the present time: what will happen will happen. And I like this idea because, ultimately, at that moment, it’s the only thing that matters.

In a video, I saw a tattoo, under your right arm, is it related to Tokyo? Is it a talisman? A lucky charm? Have you done or are you going to do the same thing for Paris?

Absolutely, these are the Tokyo Games! The rectangle symbolizes the straight line of the 100 meters, the two white lines the athletics lane, with below, written in Japanese kanji, the “4”, for the place I took there, and finally above, in red, the logo of the event… I have a second arm free, so I hope Paris will be favorable to me!

After Tokyo, you had a major health problem (an intestinal obstruction followed by a major operation), with vital consequences that, in the most optimistic scenarios, could have simply put an end to your high-level sporting future. Where did you find the resources to overcome such a milestone?

After Tokyo, indeed, everything collapsed, barely two weeks after the Games. I thought it was indigestion, but at the hospital, the doctors told me that I had to have an operation urgently or I would die. As I went under the knife and closed my eyes, I didn’t know if I would survive. When I woke up, “repaired”, after an operation that lasted eight and a half hours, I knew I had been very lucky; you could call it a miracle. But I was soon told that my body would not recover so easily; that high-level sport was certainly not something to think about anymore. At that moment, to be honest, I didn’t really care, I was past that stage: winning a medal is relative when the priority is to walk, eat and drink. All those little things in life that we take for granted when there are no worries, we quickly realise that they are not a right, but an opportunity. For me, at first, they allowed me to stay standing, so to speak. And then, there was family support, before I tested a “micro-objectives” methodology.

Can you describe this “micro objectives” recipe to us?

If I had woken up and said to myself “I’m going to be a Paralympic champion”, I certainly wouldn’t be here right now, at the National Institute of Sport, Expertise and Performance (INSEP), five days away from running the 100 metres. The goal would have been much too big considering the difficulties I was going through…

I started by asking the doctor to act at this level rather than that, so that I could be aware of what I say or what I do, then by helping the nurse, before doing certain things myself, then continuing by taking care of my own toilet, then after three weeks, getting up, going to the shower, etc.

Getting better, day by day, I was able to set myself goals that went a little further. After about three weeks, I started doing sport again, very lightly. It was difficult, even if I didn’t say to myself yet, there either: go ahead, prepare for the Games! But rather: do sport again, because you like it and you need it. Little by little, things came together, after about two months, I was able to start running again, then after four or five months, sprinting. After eight months, I beat my track record when competitions resumed…

I think this notion of micro goals allowed me to evolve them day by day without realizing the mountain I was climbing. This means that you have to set achievable goals…

You emphasize the importance of the entourage: who are these? Close ones, like your twin brother, Rémi, who plays a decisive role, or professionals who coach you? Explain to us…

For me, it was mainly my relatives, because I always had a solid family base. When I come back from Tokyo, I’m on top of the world: you don’t have anything to think about, you’re offered everything, you’re put forward… It’s a bit dizzying!… You’re defined by your performance rather than by the human being that you are… What allowed me to stay anchored in reality permanently, in difficulty as well as success, is family. So, for me, that’s the foundation. And then, of course, friends, the training group, the coach.

A project, medals, performances, without including human values, personally, I can’t do it. If I can perform, surrounded by people who have the same values ​​as me and who help me spread them, in fact, it’s much better. I can’t enjoy all that alone. I need to take people with me, that’s how I rebuilt myself entirely.