A year and a half has passed since our first interview with Kevin Cao (Where Silences Have the Floor, JudoAKD#005). A little over a year as well since we crossed paths on a final day of the 2024 Paralympic Games rich in emotions both French and foreign. In this autumn of 2025, the journalist from Limoges, France, returns with Rattrapé par la ceinture (Caught by the Belt), a new co-authored work, written this time alongside Adrien Thevenet, a former « child abandoned in a camp in Ethiopia who, after a complicated childhood and a chaotic adolescence, seemed destined for institutionalization or prison » but whose existence would be… caught by the belt of his judogi. « Adopted in France at the age of five, Adrien Thevenet, a member of Judo Club Châtelaud (Haute-Vienne), became a four-time French champion in adapted sport and competed in the Global Games, the equivalent of the Olympic Games for athletes with intellectual disabilities, » continues the press release. Let’s let Kevin give you an idea of the rest. – JudoAKD#044.
A French version of this interview is available here.
How did you meet Adrien Thevenet?
The first meeting took place in 2023. I’d heard that a judoka from Haute-Vienne, a multiple-time French champion in adapted sport, was preparing to compete in the Global Games, the equivalent of the Olympic Games for people with intellectual disabilities. In that context, I’d done a portrait page for my newspaper, Le Populaire du Centre. I was left a bit unsatisfied because it was impossible to tell everything in a single page. But Adrien has lived a thousand lives and above all endured a thousand sufferings before benefiting from this recognition.
What made you both decide to embark on this book project?
The idea came from Gérard Bayle and Houcine Ghobrini, the directors of the judo club in Chateauponsac, where Adrien started judo. On Monday, September 9, 2024, they’re at the Limoges city hall, during Cyril Jonard’s triumphant return from Paris 2024. Seeing, that day, the book by the legend of French para judo, they think the same thing: « And why not a book about Adrien? » They contact me right away and, after a meeting with Adrien’s parents, this project becomes obvious: there’s a story to tell. It’s sad and hard but above all it’s true and inspiring. This guy who lives in a group home deserves to be highlighted. Few people know him, he lived through the worst atrocities and, more than three decades later, when people feared he’d end up in prison or a psychiatric hospital, he’s more alive than ever… We both have already had long exchanges on this subject: I believe, like you, in humanity. In stories before results. In feeling rather than data. And, as with Cyril Jonard, there’s this desire to invest myself for a man who deserves as much spotlight as all the overhyped champions.
How did you go about it?
I mainly gathered testimonies from his loved ones (parents, brother by choice, adoptive sister, judo teacher, etc.) to retrace his journey. There was a desire to be as faithful as possible to his chaotic story without falling into voyeurism, however.
What did you learn while working on this book?
If I had to take away just one thing, it would be the power of judo. This sport transcends all differences: no matter your gender, weight, disability, origins, means, or any other possible distinction, once you step onto the mat, you’re a judoka like any other. Like all the others… For a long time, judo was Adrien’s only refuge. It’s the only place where this kid, diagnosed with an intellectual disability, felt good… You know it better than I do from having followed numerous careers around the world, judo changes lives. And that’s not some ready-made journalist’s formula. It’s the strict truth. Cyril Jonard and Adrien Thevenet are the best examples of it. While they were promised hell, they became champions winning the esteem and respect of those who could have shown disdain, or even worse, toward them.
Speaking of which: our previous interview came out just before the 2024 Paralympics during which Cyril Jonard, about whom you’d just written a second essay, distinguished himself once again. Media coverage, recognition, evolution: how has your perspective evolved since then on all of this? Is this also what led you to Adrien Thevenet?
I’ll try to answer concisely, while knowing we could talk for hours about these questions. After Cyril Jonard’s return from the Paralympic Games, I was an observer of the excitement generated by the man from Limoges. Everyone wanted to see him, everyone wanted to have him. Even those who had no interest in him just a few months earlier. I was unhappy for him because I saw these people who wanted to take advantage of his audience to put themselves forward. But Cyril taught me another lesson: this intelligent man wasn’t fooled and, despite the fact that he can neither see nor hear anymore, he didn’t let himself be deceived. Here, in Limoges, he enjoys a nice level of popularity. People have esteem and respect for his incredible longevity and his unwavering will to achieve the impossible. This year, a twenty-six-minute documentary film was made about him on the show L’œil et la main on France 5. Also, even if he’d like it to be even more significant, sponsors are reaching out to him. Media coverage, recognition and evolution: it’s a long battle. I don’t know if he’ll win it one day but, as always, he shows selflessness… This battle I’m telling you about is also the common thread of my career. Thanks to Paris 2024, the parasports movement benefited from recognition that, I hope, won’t fade over time. But what about adapted sport? Today, its representatives have no visibility. If this book about Adrien could be a modest grain of sand… – Interview by Anthony Diao, autumn 2025. Opening picture: ©Quentin Vectan-Berbey/JudoAKD.
To get Rattrapé par la ceinture, starting 17 November 2025: livre.adrienthevenet[a]gmail.com
An English version of this interview is available here.
More articles in English:
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- JudoAKD#001 – Loïc Pietri – Pardon His French
- JudoAKD#002 – Emmanuelle Payet – This Island Within Herself
- JudoAKD#003 – Laure-Cathy Valente – Lyon, Third Generation
- JudoAKD#004 – Back to Celje
- JudoAKD#005 – Kevin Cao – Where Silences Have the Floor
- JudoAKD#006 – Frédéric Lecanu – Voice on Way
- JudoAKD#008 – Annett Böhm – Life is Lives
- JudoAKD#009 – Abderahmane Diao – Infinity of Destinies
- JudoAKD#010 – Paco Lozano – Eye of the Fighters
- JudoAKD#011 – Hans Van Essen – Mister JudoInside
- JudoAKD#021 – Benjamin Axus – Still Standing
- JudoAKD#022 – Romain Valadier-Picard – The Fire Next Time
- JudoAKD#023 – Andreea Chitu – She Remembers
- JudoAKD#024 – Malin Wilson – Come. See. Conquer.
- JudoAKD#025 – Antoine Valois-Fortier – The Constant Gardener
- JudoAKD#026 – Amandine Buchard – Status and Liberty
- JudoAKD#027 – Norbert Littkopf (1944-2024), by Annett Boehm
- JudoAKD#028 – Raffaele Toniolo – Bardonecchia, with Family
- JudoAKD#029 – Riner, Krpalek, Tasoev – More than Three Men
- JudoAKD#030 – Christa Deguchi and Kyle Reyes – A Thin Red and White Line
- JudoAKD#031 – Jimmy Pedro – United State of Mind
- JudoAKD#032 – Christophe Massina – Twenty Years Later
- JudoAKD#033 – Teddy Riner/Valentin Houinato – Two Dojos, Two Moods
- JudoAKD#034 – Anne-Fatoumata M’Baïro – Of Time and a Lifetime
- JudoAKD#035 – Nigel Donohue – « Your Time is Your Greatest Asset »
- JudoAKD#036 – Ahcène Goudjil – In the Beginning was Teaching
- JudoAKD#037 – Toma Nikiforov – The Kalashnikiforov Years
- JudoAKD#038 – Catherine Beauchemin-Pinard – The Rank of Big Sister
- JudoAKD#039 – Vitalie Gligor – « The Road Takes the One Who Walks »
- JudoAKD#040 – Joan-Benjamin Gaba and Inal Tasoev – Mindset Matters
- JudoAKD#041 – Pierre Neyra – About a Corner of France and Judo as It Is Taught There
- JudoAKD#042 – Theódoros Tselídis – Between Greater Caucasus and Aegean Sea
- JudoAKD#043 – Kim Polling – This Girl Was on Fire
More Replays in English:
- JudoAKDReplay#001 – Pawel Nastula – The Leftover (2017)
- JudoAKDReplay#002 – Gévrise Emane – Turn Lead into Bronze (2020)
- JudoAKDReplay#003 – Lukas Krpalek – The Best Years of a Life (2019)
- JudoAKDReplay#004 – How Did Ezio Become Gamba? (2015)
- JudoAKDReplay#005 – What’s up… Dimitri Dragin? (2016)
- JudoAKDReplay#006 – Travis Stevens – « People forget about medals, only fighters remain » (2016)
- JudoAKDReplay#007 – Sit and Talk with Tina Trstenjak and Clarisse Agbégnénou (2017)
- JudoAKDReplay#008 – A Summer with Marti Malloy (2014)
- JudoAKDReplay#009 – Hasta Luego María Celia Laborde (2015)
And also :
JudoAKD – Instagram – X (Twitter).
