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| TONY HELISSEY Jean-Paul |
| NOC |
France
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| Gender | Men |
| Born |
28 Mar 1990
in Pointe-à-Pitre, GLP
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| Height | 1.77 m |
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Further Personal Information |
| Residence |
Paris, FRA |
| Occupation |
Athlete, Student |
| Languages |
English, French |
| Higher education |
Management - ESCP Europe: Paris, FRA |
Sport Specific Information |
| When and where did you begin this sport? |
He took up fencing at age five in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe. |
| Why this sport? |
Coaches of his local fencing league in Guadeloupe were looking for a left-handed fencer. |
| Club / Team |
BLR 92: Bourg-la-Reine, FRA |
| Name of coach |
Emeric Clos [national], FRA |
| Training Regime |
He trains in the morning for three hours before his classes and studying during the day. He trains again for an hour each night. |
| Handedness |
Left |
General Interest |
| Nicknames |
JP, Jean-Paulo (Facebook profile, 14 Apr 2018; NOC Media Guide, 2016) |
| Hobbies |
Finance, tennis, basketball. (leparisien.fr, 20 Jan 2017) |
| Hero / Idol |
French fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic. (pluris.fr, 14 Mar 2017) |
| Awards and honours |
He was decorated with France's National Order of Merit in 2016, after winning a silver medal at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. (pluris.fr, 14 Mar 2017) |
| Ambitions |
To compete at the 2020 Olympic Games in Tokyo, and the 2024 Olympic Games in Paris. He also aspires to work in investment banking and capital funding. (univ-paris1.fr, 22 Feb 2017; univ-paris1.fr, 22 Feb 2017) |
| Other information |
RIO EXPERIENCE
He says he has grown from his disappointing performance at the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro, where he feels he cost France the gold medal in the men's team foil event. "It took me weeks to really recover. I felt guilty. It was as if the team lost because of me. Every event that I live helps me to move forward. All this will serve me as experience. I understand that when you do high-performance sport, doubt is allowed. It's human. I am not the first to whom it happens. Now, when I look at my silver medal, I do not want to desecrate it. It still represents all my efforts in recent years." (leparisien.fr, 20 Jan 2017)
FROM GUADELOUPE TO FRANCE
He was born in Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe, and moved to France in 2007. (asbr-escrime.fr, 2007)
OTHER STUDIES
He has also studied economics at Pantheon-Sorbonne University in Paris, France. (pluris.fr, 14 Mar 2017; univ-paris1.fr, 22 Feb 2017) |
| Olympic Games |
| 2016 |
2 |
Team Foil |
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
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