NABAIJI | DECATHLON x LÉANDRE BOYER

Léandre: “On 12 March 2020, I was 10 years old, and during football training I received two blows to the head. After the second impact, I immediately got a massive headache. I suffered a stroke and my entire right side froze from head to toe; I collapsed on the ground. I was then in hospital for three months followed by a month and a half in a wheelchair.

As a result of this stroke, the whole right side of my body was paralysed.”

Léandre: “Sport has always been a big part of my life. So, following my accident, after rehabilitation, I had to get back into sport. I had previously been a football player but with my hemiplegia, it wasn't easy to go back to playing football at the same level.

In all honesty, I never really had a chance to ask myself which sport I should turn to. It just happened naturally, straight away people said that I should give swimming a go. I already liked the water before my accident, but I mostly just liked messing around in the water! I was not a competitive swimmer. It took a bit of getting used to at first, but I quickly got the hang of it.”

Léandre's father, Jérôme, explains that swimming was the gateway to getting his son moving again and reconnecting with sport. The aquatic environment, reputed for its many benefits for the body, is also widely used in rehabilitation. This made swimming the perfect sport for Léandre.

Léandre: “When you're swimming, you're competing with yourself. You're not part of a group or a team. It's just you and the water. That challenge is what I love about it. I'm always trying to outdo myself, to beat my own times, to rethink how I train to improve my performance.”

Léandre's father tells us that after seeing him swim, the president of the disability sports club said to him: “You're gonna make it to the Olympics!”. Léandre's reaction was initially astonishment. With glistening eyes, he turned to his parents and asked them: “Did he really just say that?”. Yes, he really just said that. It only took Léandre a few seconds to say: “OK, I'll make it to the games”. Léandre has a competitive spirit. The challenge was set.

Léandre: “I train one to two hours a day, in the evening after school. I do six training sessions per week: five swimming and one GPP (general physical preparedness).

Sport does not encroach on school; all my training sessions are scheduled outside of my school timetable. I'm a year ahead. It's important for me to keep up with my studies and to maintain a balance between sport and school. Besides, I already know what I want to do later: I want to be a neurologist.”

Jérôme (Léandre's dad): “There's a real bond that's created between elite athletes with disabilities. For us, it's like a breath of fresh air, it inspires us. There's something almost fraternal about it. Each athlete has their own disability and is therefore different in their own way. In this regard, it's difficult to compare yourself with others, and this is what creates a real bond between the athletes.

Everyone knows how difficult it is to train because the conventional training method is not possible. So you have to reinvent yourself every day and find ways to work out differently. It's all about continuous improvement and innovation. We're exploring worlds that have never been explored before! The idea is to come up with the most efficient solution for every situation we face to get the best out of his performance.”

Each year, Léandre will receive a full set of NABAIJI branded kit. Competition suits, swimwear, equipment, accessories, and so on. He will use his kit for training and competitions. Then, he will give us his feedback: what he likes, what he doesn't like and what could be improved. The aim? To work together in a process of continuous improvement: that of Léandre as well as that of our products!

For our design teams, receiving feedback from a high-level para swimmer allows us to explore new playing fields by stimulating our creativity and our sense of innovation.

Léandre: “Pretty much everything! Swim caps, swimwear, jammer, but also microfibre towels, hand paddles, pullbuoy, fins and even the bag that I carry everything in. The only thing I don't currently use are swimming goggles.”

Léandre: “What is interesting is writing this next chapter together. Honestly, we don't know what the outcome will be, but we have set ourselves a goal. And this goal is what motivates us on a daily basis. We know why we get up each day, what we are working towards, it's like a roadmap. We don't know how this adventure will pan out, but we are heading there together.

Our aim was to find a partner who would be there from the beginning of the story. We weren't interested in finding a partner who would only be present on the day we took part in the Olympics. What we want is to write the story of Léandre, together. And it starts now.”