At the Adaptive CrossFit® Games, which kick off on September 19, the Frenchman aims to remain number 1 in his category.
On June 20, 2024, the Olympic flame made a stopover in Valence, a city located in the Drôme department in southeastern France. At around 7 p.m., a man in a wheelchair, dressed all in white, took hold of the flame.
This man is Simon Farre, former top-level wheelchair basketball player and world number 1 in CrossFit® in his Adaptive category. A great advocate of handisport, and standard-bearer for handicrossfit in France, Simon will be in San Antonio, USA, from September 19 to 22 for the Adaptive CrossFit® Games. His ambition is to remain number 1 and, above all, to show people with disabilities that anything is possible.
Hustle Up : What do the CrossFit® Games mean to you? Simon Farre : This will be the fourth year running that I've taken part in the CrossFit® Games, and it's obviously a great source of pride to represent France at the highest level of CrossFit®. For the three previous years, my Adaptive category didn't compete live at the Games, we competed on video. There was something missing, like the tension you feel on the floor or the fact of sharing these moments with other athletes.
How did it feel to take part in the Games for the first time in 2021? I'd already had a first high-level sporting career in handisport basketball (European vice-champion in 2004 with the French team). So when I discovered CrossFit® in 2018, my competitive spirit quickly took over. I set myself the goal of reaching the top 5 in the world within a few years.
At my first CrossFit® Games in 2021, I revised my objectives upwards after two events, in agreement with my coach Magali Rochay and my mental trainer Vincent Dechelle. We decided to aim for a place on the podium. Like any competitor, I was aiming for first place. It all came down to the last WOD. Winning was an enormous source of pride, but as I said, I missed the feeling of competing on the floor, since we were competing on video.
At what point did you realise you were going to be a top-level crossfitter? I've been disabled since birth, and sport has been a way of accepting this handicap. The competitive spirit came to me when I started handisport basketball and has never left me since. When I started CrossFit®, the top level was a natural objective. So I gave myself the means to get there, with the support of my coach, my mental trainer, all the members of CrossFit® Chalon-sur-Saône and the whole French community.