29 Belgian athletes taking part in the Paris Paralympic Games

Athletics:

• Léa Bayekula is a Belgian wheelchair athlete suffering from spina bifida, causing incomplete development of her spinal column. In 2024, she broke the 400 m world record (T54 classification).
• Maxime Carabin is a wheelchair athlete, having lost the use of his legs and part of his left arm during a handball match in November 2019. He has broken several world records.
• Martin Clobert has been visually impaired since the age of 10, as a result of a genetic disease (Leber's disease) causing degeneration of the optic nerve and loss of central vision. He is a physiotherapist and marathon runner.
• Peter Genyn broke his neck at the age of 16 after diving into shallow water. In 2013, he broke his hip and femur, confining him to a wheelchair. He has gone on to compete in athletics, winning numerous European and world championship titles.
• Roger Habsch's life was turned upside down in a road accident that left him a quadriplegic. He competes in wheelchair athletics in the T51 classification (tetraplegia without triceps muscle function) and has set world records as well as winning several world titles.
• Kiara Maene is an ambitious young sprint athlete who competes in the T20 category for athletes with an intellectual disability. She runs in the 100, 200 and 400 metres.
• Selma Van Kerm has suffered from right hemiplegia since birth. She will be lining up for the 400 m.
   

Cycling:

• Tim Celen competes in the T2 classification, i.e. on a tricycle. Since birth, the Limburg native has suffered from hemiplegia (paralysis of the right side of his body). In 2021 and 2022, he won the world time trial title. 
• Louis Clincke competes in the C4 category. In 2013, he was hit by a car and the medical toll of the injuries was severe. Despite a hip replacement, in 2022 he won silver at the European Championships and the World Championships in time trials.
• Maxime Hordies competes in the H1 classification. Having become a quadriplegic in 2014 following a gymnastics accident, he was crowned world champion at the Road World Championships in 2019, 2022, and 2023.
• Marvin Odent suffered a fall as a carpenter in 2016, leaving him paraplegic. Since 2021, he has been competing with the best and has won several titles, including Belgian champion in the MH3 category.
• Jonas Van de Steene competes in the H4 category on a handbike, an arm-powered recumbent bike, because in 2012, a cycling accident caused thrombosis, resulting in motor failure in his abdomen and legs. He was crowned world champion in the road race in Glasgow in 2023.
• Ewoud Vromant had to undergo amputation after chemotherapy in 2012. Since 2018, he has enjoyed a string of podium finishes on the international stage, including the rainbow jersey on two occasions.
   

Dressage:

• Manon Claeys is a Belgian rider competing in Grade IV. She fell from her horse during a ride in 2007, causing unilateral paralysis of the right half of her body. At the Tokyo Olympics, she won a bronze medal in both the individual test and the freestyle test.
• Michèle George is a Belgian rider and multiple European, World and Paralympic champion. Despite being involved in a road accident at the age of 23, which left her with physical scars, she never gave up her passion for equestrian sport.
• Barbara Minneci is a Belgian rider in Grade III. The after-effects of a serious illness requiring surgery left her with monoplegia in her left leg and muscle loss in her right leg.
• Kevin Van Ham is a Belgian rider who competes in para-dressage in Grade V because he was born missing his hand and part of his left forearm up to his elbow. His first Paralympic Games was in Tokyo in 2021.
   

Swimming:

• Sam de Visser is a swimmer from Limburg. He competes in the S9, SB8 and SM9 categories in the 100-metre butterfly and 400-metre freestyle, a distance in which he won bronze at the last European championships.
• Tatyana Lebrun is a Belgian swimmer from Saint-Vith. Born with Larsen Syndrome (a genetic disease affecting bones and joints), she has undergone several operations, particularly on her knees. In 2022, at the World Championships in Funchal, she won bronze in the 100 m breaststroke, her favourite discipline. 
• Aymeric Parmentier is a category S14 swimmer with an autism-type intellectual disability. At the 2017 World Championships in Mexico, he won bronze in the 100 m breaststroke.
   

Table tennis:

• Ben Despineux was born with Phocomelia, a syndrome characterised by skeletal malformations, which in his case mainly affects the forearms. He won bronze in the doubles event at the 2022 World Championships.
• Laurens Devos was born with hemiplegia, a unilateral paralysis, and competes in class 9 for players with mild physical impairments. At the top of his game for several years now, he has already achieved the triple of being Paralympic champion, European champion and reigning world champion on two separate occasions.
• Marc Ledoux is affected by cerebral palsy, which causes him partial hemiplegia, and competes in class TT8. He is an icon in Paralympic table tennis and has already taken part in 4 Paralympic Games.
• Florian Van Acker competes in class TT11, for athletes with an intellectual disability. He is a Paralympic champion, world champion and three-time European champion in men's singles.
   

Archery:

• Piotr Van Montagu was born with no arms and with an impairment to one of his legs. He competes in the men's Compound Open category in the ST class and finished in 9th place at the 2020 Tokyo Games.
   

Triathlon:

• Wim De Paepe wears a prosthesis on his right leg following amputation at the age of ten after an accident with an agricultural machine. He took third place at the 2021 European Championships in Valencia, as well as at the World Championships in 2021 and 2023.
   

Wheelchair tennis:

• Joachim Gérard contracted polio in his right leg at the age of 9 months. He has amassed an impressive record on the international stage, winning several Grand Slam singles and doubles tournaments, several titles at the Masters as well as bronze at the Paralympic Games in Rio in 2016.

Badminton:

• Man-Kei To, nicknamed "Kiki", was the victim of a serious road accident in 2007, and has been paralysed in her legs ever since. In 2023, she was crowned European champion in women's singles, and went on to win a bronze medal at the World Championships in Pattaya, Thailand.

Boccia:

• Francis Rombouts, also nicknamed "Blackjack", will be our representative in this game that combines pétanque (using balls and a goal), curling (placement) and chess (strategy and move preparation). The athlete with cerebral palsy won bronze in 2023 at the European Championships in Rotterdam.