Wheelchair Fencing Glory for Dimitri Coutya in Paris
Ealing Paralympian overcomes reigning champion
The moment when Dimitri Coutya claimed gold. Picture: Paralympics GB
September 5, 2024
A wheelchair fencer from Ealing has clinched gold in Paris overcoming the reigning champion and four-times gold medallist.
Dimitri Coutya, who attended St. Benedict’s School, won the men’s foil on the Grand Palais piste in a near flawless performance this Wednesday (4 September).
His trademark attacking style had seen him defeat Thailand’s Visit Kingmanaw 15-5 in the quarter-finals and Ukraine’s Dmytro Serozhenko 15-4 in the semi-finals but his toughest opponent awaited in the final in the shape of Yanke Feng of China. The two had met three years ago in Tokyo with the veteran fencer narrowly defeating Dimitri.
Dimitri showed the level of improvement he had achieved since winning team foil silver and team epee bronze in Tokyo and in the end dominated the bout in a 15-7 win.
He said afterwards, “(Yanke) had perfect distance control, I knew I had to be spot on to set myself up to give myself the right timing to make those hits.
“I was always looking at where he was to set myself up for the best possible opportunities to score the hits.
“The beauty of fencing is you see personalities reflected in style. He is a very tactical, well-rounded fencer. I knew I couldn’t score everything because of how strong he is defensively but I pushed it as much as I could.”
Dimitri suffered a spinal injury at the age of two after being knocked over by a car. He originally planned to maintain an active lifestyle by participating in Wheelchair Basketball but in 2009 the fencing programme at St. Benedict’s enabled him to take up a new sport. He took part in the BPA’s Paralympic Inspiration Programme during London 2012 having already been spotted by Team GB couches and won a bronze in the 2011 UK School Games.
It was at this point he made Rio his target and decided to focus on his fencing. By 2014, Dimitri had broken through at international level winning a bronze medal win in the foil at the World Cup in Eger, Hungary. In 2015, he went on to win five World Cup medals in both foil and epée and, at the age of 17, he won silver in the foil event at the 2015 IWAS Wheelchair Fencing World Championships in Eger, Hungary. He made the quarter-finals at Rio but continued to rank highly in international competitions claiming double world gold in 2017.
He went into his third Olympic Games as the reigning European champion in both the Épée and Foil events for Category B fencers.
He said, “It has been something I have dedicated my life to, especially in the last few years.
“Although Tokyo was a brilliant result and I was really happy considering where I’d come in Rio, I really wanted that gold medal. I have really dedicated the last few years to it.
“There has been a lot of emotional turmoil that went into it so for it to come to fruition, it’s not really sunk in yet.”
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