Léa Bayekula (born 26 April 1995) is a Belgian wheelchair racer who competes in international track and field competitions. She is a European bronze medalist in wheelchair sprinting.[1][2][3]
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||
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| Born | 26 April 1995 Brussels, Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||
| Country |  Belgium | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Para athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability | Spina bifida | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Disability class | T54 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Event(s) | 100 metres 400 metres 800 metres 1500 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Royal white star athletic club | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Team | Red Velvet Racing Team | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Coached by | Arno Mul | ||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Biography
editLéa Bayekula was born with spina bifida in a family of 8 where she and her twin sister are the oldest children. She was 6 years old when, after years of training, she finally mastered how to walk. Her parents always made it a point of honor that she should join a traditional school and not an institution for children with disabilities.[4]
She discovered parasports by chance at the age of 15 during a general public day organized in Brussels by the Ligue handisport francophone. She first practiced wheelchair basketball for three years.[5] Then, after seeing a demonstration by Belgian Paralympic athlete Marieke Vervoort of what she could do with her wheelchair, she switched to para-athletics at age 18, specializing in 100 to 400 metres.[6]
Personal
editBayekula joined the gospel choir, Voice of Angels, when she was 6. She enjoyed going to concerts with the choir. With the choir she even reached the finals of "Belgium's got Talent" in 2013 on RTL-TVI, a french-language channel in Belgium. She practiced contemporary dance since the age of 17, modeled and dreamed of becoming an actress[4] She was an ambassador of Unrun (42/54), the Belgian activewear label founded by Belgium's 2024 Summer Olympic Games gold medal winners Elodie Ouedraogo and Olivia Borlée.[7]
She became a Handicap International Ambassador in 2021.[5]
She has appeared in multiple TV documentaries: "Croire malgré tout" (Believe in Spite of Everything),[8] EX AEQUO! (Ten inspiring stories of professional athletes facing discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation and disability)[9] and "Paralympique".[10]
Her idol and role model, and good friend, is Belgium's 400 metres runner Cynthia Bolingo who she first met in the bath rooms at one of her first competitions in 2016 .[11]
Competitions
editBayekula first success came in 2017 when she became for the first time the Belgian national champion 200 metres T54.[12] From there on, there followed more national titles: in 2020 and 2021 in the 100 metres and 400 metres T54,[13][14] in 2023 in the 100 metres T54,[15] in 2024 in the 100 and 400 metres T54.[16]
Her first international success came in 2021 when she won the bronze medal in the 100 metres T54 at the European Championships in Bydgoszcz, Poland.[17]
In February 2024, she broke for the first time an international record when she set the European record to 51.89 seconds in the 400 metres T54 at the Sharjah 2024 International Open Para Athletics Meeting, finishing second behind the American and then world record holder Tatyana McFadden.[18] In June, she went on to break Tatyana McFadden's world record at the Mémorial Daniela Jutzeler in Arbon, Switzerland, posting a time of 51.13 seconds, and then broke her own record at the Grand Prix de Paris making history in becoming the first 400 metres T54 athlete under 51 seconds posting a time of 50.91 seconds.[19]
References
edit- ^ "Lea Bayekula - Ligue Handisport (in French)". Ligue Handisport. 14 July 2023.
- ^ "Lea Bayekula - IPC Profile". International Paralympic Committee. 14 July 2023.
- ^ "European Para Athletics Championships: Lea Bayekula gives Belgium its first medal (in Dutch)". sporza.be. 1 June 2021.
- ^ a b "Léa Bayekula Des rêves plein la tête !" (PDF). Association Spina Bifida Belge Francophone (in French). Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ a b "Léa Bayekula : "Donner plus de visibilité au handicap"". Handicap International (in French). 26 July 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "Léa Bayekula, athlète ambitieuse et rieuse: « C'est inadmissible qu'on doive s'adapter dans un monde qui devrait être accessible à tous". weekend.levif.be (in French). 2 September 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "Rêves olympiques : Léa Bayekula, l'athlète qui roule sur les préjugés" (in French). Le Soir. 10 January 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "Croire malgré tout" (in French). KTO (TV channel). 19 October 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "EX AEQUO!". Film Fund Luxembourg. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "SOUS NOS YEUX" (PDF). www.wolubilis.be (in French). Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "Ze nam ooit deel aan 'Belgium's Got Talent' en heeft Marieke Vervoort als grote voorbeeld: wie is paralympisch kampioene Léa Bayekula?" (in Dutch). Het Belang van Limburg. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "LÉA BAYEKULA, ATHLÈTE BELGE, A UN RÊVE : PARTICIPER AUX JEUX PARALYMPIQUES DE TOKYO 2020". www.alohanews.be (in French). 8 January 2018. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "ATHLÉTISME – CHAMPIONNAT DE BELGIQUE". www.handisport.be. 16 August 2020. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "ATHLÉTISME – CHAMPIONNAT DE BELGIQUE 2021". www.handisport.be. 26 June 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "LÉA BAYEKULA". www.athletisme.app. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "LÉA BAYEKULA". www.athletisme.app. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "MÉDAILLE DE BRONZE POUR LÉA BAYEKULA SUR 100M AUX CHAMPIONNATS D'EUROPE". Belgian Paralympic Committee (in French). 2 June 2021. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "12th Sharjah International Open Para Athletics Meeting 2024" (PDF). www.caths.cz. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
- ^ "PLUS RIEN N'ARRÊTE LÉA BAYEKULA". Belgian Paralympic Committee (in French). 17 June 2024. Retrieved 5 September 2024.
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