Léa Bayekula (born 26 April 1995) is a Belgian wheelchair racer who competes in international track and field competitions. She is reigning Paralympic 100m and 400m champion in T54 racing, after previously breaking through with a European bronze medalist in 2021.[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]
Athletics career
editFirst coming to public attention by reaching the final of Belgium's Got Talent with her gospel choir in 2013, Bayekula discovered parasports by chance at the age of 15 during a general public day organised 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]
Bayekula's first success came in 2017 when she became Belgian national champion for the first time in the T54 200 metres.[7] From there on, there followed more national titles: in 2020 and 2021 in the 100 metres and 400 metres T54,[8][9] in 2023 in the 100 metres T54,[10] in 2024 in the 100 and 400 metres T54.[11]
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.[12]
Moving to Dutch coach Arno Mul, Bayekula finished fourth in the 400 metres at the 2023 World Para Athletics Championships in Paris and seventh in the 1500 metres, but missed out on the 100 metres final by finishing third in her semi-final behind Noemi Alphonse of Mauritius and China's Luo Shuimei, ranking her ninth overall. Skipping the 2024 World Championships in Kobe, Bayekula broke an international record for the first time when she set a new European record of 51.89 seconds in the 400 metres T54 at the Sharjah 2024 International Open Para Athletics Meeting in February 2024, finishing second behind world record holder Tatyana McFadden of the USA.[13] The following June, Bayekula went on to break 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 at Stade Charléty, making history in becoming the first 400 metres T54 athlete under 51 seconds posting a time of 50.91 seconds,[14] putting her on the road to claim both the 100 metres and 400 metres titles at the 2024 Paralympic Games at the Stade de France.
Bayekula started the first Paralympics of her career with a win in the heats of the 800 metres, progressing her through to the final, where after leading for a long time she eventually finished fifth, with gold won by Manuela Schaer of Switzerland.[15][16]
In the 100 metres, Bayekula again won her semi-final heat in a time of 15.87 seconds, ahead of Alphonse and Hannah Dederick of the US, beaten only by Tatyana McFadden's Paralympic record of 15.55 seconds from the other semi-final.[17] The two fastest performers from the morning semis would again outperform the rest of the field in the final held that evening, with Bayekula breaking McFadden's new Paralympic record by 0.05 seconds, for a new Paralympic mark of 15.50. McFadden herself won silver in 15.67 with training colleague Amanda Kotaja of Finland third in 15.77, and Alphonse fourth.[18][19][20]
By holding the 400 metres world record, Bayekula was considered among the medal favourites at the one-lap distance in Paris the following night. The Belgian winning her semi-final as she had previously done in the 100m and 800m, clocking the fastest time in the round by almost a second-and-a-half. Her mark of 52.25 seconds was well clear of Schaer's winning time in the other semi-final of 53.69.[21]
A tight sprint in the final saw Bayekula hold off Schaer to claim her second gold medal of the week in a time of 53.05 seconds, with Schaer second in 53.14, and China's Zhou Zhaoqian third in 54.01.[22][23]
Bayekula was among the Belgian Olympic and Paralympic medallists honoured at the Memorial Van Damme Diamond League meeting at the King Baudouin Stadium after the Paris Games.
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.[24]
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.[25]
She became a Handicap International Ambassador in 2021.[5]
She has appeared in multiple TV documentaries: "Croire malgré tout" (Believe in Spite of Everything),[26] EX AEQUO! (Ten inspiring stories of professional athletes facing discrimination based on race, gender, sexual orientation and disability)[27] and "Paralympique".[28]
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.[29]
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.
- ^ "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.
- ^ "Women's 800m - T54 Final - Para Athletics". Olympics.com. 1 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Gestrand in de laatste rechte lijn: Léa Bayekula zakt van plek 1 naar 5 in spannend slot van 800 meter (Stranded in the final straight: Léa Bayekula drops from 1st to 5th place in exciting 800m finale)". Sporza (in Dutch). 1 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Women's 100m - T54 Round 1 - Para Athletics". Olympics.com. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Women's 100m - T54 Final - Para Athletics". Olympics.com. 4 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Léa Bayekula wins Paralympic gold in the 100 metres". VRT Nws. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "GOUD! Léa Bayekula sluit Belgische droomdag in stijl af met paralympische titel op de 100 meter (GOLD! Léa Bayekula ends Belgian dream day in style with Paralympic title in the 100 metres)". Sporza (in Dutch). 5 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Women's 400m - T54 Round 1 - Para Athletics". Olympics.com. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Women's 400m - T54 Final - Para Athletics". Olympics.com. 5 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Opnieuw GOUD voor Léa Bayekula! Na de 100 meter ook de snelste op de 400 meter: "2 medailles in 24 uur, dit is buitengewoon" (GOLD again for Léa Bayekula! After the 100 meters also the fastest on the 400 metres: "2 medals in 24 hours, this is extraordinary")". Sporza (in Dutch). 5 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 2024.
- ^ "Van finaliste in Belgium's got Talent naar koningin van de Belgische G-atletiek: het verhaal van Léa Bayekular (From finalist in Belgium's got Talent to queen of Belgian para athletics: the story of Léa Bayekula)". Sporza (in Dutch). 6 September 2024. Retrieved 1 October 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.