Jean-Baptiste Alaize (born 10 May 1991) is a French

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

with an

amputated Amputation is the removal of a limb by trauma, medical illness, or surgery. As a surgical measure, it is used to control pain or a disease process in the affected limb, such as malignancy or gangrene. In some cases, it is carried out on indivi ...

tibia The tibia (; ), also known as the shinbone or shankbone, is the larger, stronger, and anterior (frontal) of the two bones in the leg below the knee in vertebrates (the other being the fibula, behind and to the outside of the tibia); it connects ...

, who specialises in sprint and

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

. He represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

at the

2016 Paralympic Games ) , nations = 159 , athletes = 4,342 , opening = 7 September , closing = 18 September , opened_by = President Michel Temer , cauldron = Clodoaldo Silva , events = 528 in 22 sports , stadium = Maracanã , sum ...

Early life

Alaize was born in

Burundi Burundi (, ), officially the Republic of Burundi ( rn, Repuburika y’Uburundi ; Swahili language, Swahili: ''Jamuhuri ya Burundi''; French language, French: ''République du Burundi'' ), is a landlocked country in the Great Rift Valley at the ...

, in 1991, just days before the

Burundian Civil War The Burundian Civil War was a civil war in Burundi lasting from 1993 to 2005. The civil war was the result of longstanding ethnic divisions between the Hutu and the Tutsi ethnic groups. The conflict began following the first multi-party election ...

broke out. At three years old, the conflict required one of his legs to be amputated. He arrived in France 12 July 1998, to receive a

prosthesis In medicine, a prosthesis (plural: prostheses; from grc, πρόσθεσις, prósthesis, addition, application, attachment), or a prosthetic implant, is an artificial device that replaces a missing body part, which may be lost through trau ...

and remained in

Montpellier Montpellier (, , ; oc, Montpelhièr ) is a city in southern France near the Mediterranean Sea. One of the largest urban centres in the region of Occitania (administrative region), Occitania, Montpellier is the prefecture of the Departments of ...

. He runs with this carbon prosthesis specially designed for handisport. He entered

INSEP INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance), is a French training institute and center for excellence in sports that trains elite athletes. It is located on th ...

in 2010 . He is a member of the 'Lollipop suckers' club, a group of more than 90 famous elite created by Peace and Sport, a Monaco-based international organization placed under the High Patronage of H.S.H Prince Albert II. This group of top level champions, wish to make sport a tool for dialogue and social cohesion. http://www.peace-sport.org/our-champions-of-peace/

Career

Alaize has been

world champion four times, for athletes under 23 years. He joined the Elite French Team for the first time in January 2011 during the Handisport World Championship, at

Christchurch Christchurch ( ; mi, Ōtautahi) is the largest city in the South Island of New Zealand and the seat of the Canterbury Region. Christchurch lies on the South Island's east coast, just north of Banks Peninsula on Pegasus Bay. The Avon River / ...

(

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

), when he achieved a sixth place in long jump and eighth place in 200m sprint.

Personal records

* 60 m : 7 s 60 (February 25, 2012) * 100 m : 11 s 80 (July 29, 2011) * 200 m : 24 s 28 (June 22, 2012) * Long jump : 6,81 m (June 28, 2016)

Prize list

World Championship younger than 23

Long jump

* 2007 World champion * 2009 World champion and record man * 2010 World champion and world record man

100 meter sprint

* third in 2008 * second in 2009 * third in 2010

200 meter sprint

* third in 2008

Documentary

Jean-Baptiste Alaize's story of overcoming adversity is told in the Netflix documentary Rising Phoenix, where he is featured among nine Paralympians.

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alaize, Jean-Baptiste 1991 births Living people French male sprinters French male long jumpers Paralympic athletes for France Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics 21st-century French people