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Jean-Baptiste Alaize Quotes
born 1991 France
Jean-Baptiste Alaize (born 10 May 1991) is a French athlete with an amputated tibia, who specialises in sprint and long jump. He represented France at the Paralympic Games in 2012 and 2016.
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13 quotes
I could never have imagined someone like him, so full of love, so full of opportunities, would come to look for me, but he did.
My brother [Julien] is a Hutu and he also suffered in a different way.
Three hours later, at 8pm, they came back. We heard lots of shouting and screaming and saw houses on fire and people everywhere. Suddenly they were doing what they said they’d do, killing everyone.
I was not a normal child. I was traumatised from the war, I had had no mother’s love, I didn’t always behave well. But my parents gave me everything I had lost: love and self-confidence.
My leg injury was too severe; I had to have it amputated.
A handicap is something that stops you from doing what you want… but not me. I’m not handicapped. Everything is OK for me, because I feel good in my head.
He said: ‘Look, he has a handicap, he has only one leg and voila! He still won you the race. You should respect him; he is black and handicapped, don’t judge him or push him to one side.
My mother, who was a nurse, gave up her job to help me. She would stay up all the night at my bedside.
What I am missing is an Olympic medal. Tokyo was my dream, probably my last chance because of my age. I had everything planned… it’s almost my dream that’s been crushed.
For a long time I hid my handicap, because I don’t want to add to my problems. But I had to adapt, and I did so by showing people I was normal. I couldn’t do anything about my colour, but I could be good at sport.
I’d wanted him to be discreet, but actually it was a strong message and as if a barrier had been opened. Suddenly my classmates knew I was different, but despite that difference I could run fast, I was good at heart and I could be like everyone else.
For a long time, I had these nightmares. I relived the scene where those men executed my mother; the moment when, before my very eyes, they cut off her head. Athletics cured me of that.
France portrays itself as a country of liberty, equality and fraternity, but everyone is put in a box: there’s a box for whites, for blacks, for Arabs, for Jews. Where’s the equality in that? It’s 2020 and there’s still a lot of racism in France, but nobody talks about it.
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