Paris 2024 Paralympic Games: Equestrian events kick off at Versailles

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00:00In her final laps, before the Paralympics, Chiara Zanardi was focused.

00:06With her trainer delivering instructions by phone, they made sure the choreography was perfect.

00:12Watch your contact on the left. Yes, that's it.

00:16Because this para-equestrian has a dream, she wants to win Olympic gold.

00:21And to give her and her horse, Swing Royal, the best chance of success,

00:25they were provided this stud farm and a ring of support.

00:30They put a lot of people at our disposal to help us as much as possible.

00:35For Paris 2024, the French Equestrian Federation went all out.

00:40Two international judges, Carlos Lopez and David Amager, were brought in to help the French riders.

00:46Ten years ago, I was seeing the French team and saying,

00:49why don't they, because you have this tradition for riding, but nobody wins.

00:54I'm impressed how much money they put in this sport, especially this sport, this para-sport.

01:00We need to grow more.

01:03And with the help of private sponsors, the budget was quadrupled, totalling 400,000 euros for the Games,

01:09affording the team financial support for their horses, boarding and lessons.

01:15For rider Lisa Sez and her mum, Maryleen, there would be no Paralympics without it.

01:21The help of the Federation gave us some breathing space.

01:26If we didn't have at least half of our budget from financial partners, we'd have stopped and call it a day.

01:33The funding also enabled mental health support.

01:36Performance coach Flore Therese was enlisted to help the riders manage the pressure,

01:40especially with the Games being held at home.

01:43It's something I'm going to rely on a lot.

01:47It's confidence in yourself, in others, in your trainer, in your horse.

01:54They drew Olympic medals and imagined the moment when their dreams would become reality.

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