Three paralympic medallists become renault ambassadors

“ The creation of a Renault disability sports team is an opportunity to reaffirm our commitment to the physically disabled as well as our support for the sporting community, with which we share the same values of solidarity, performance, team spirit and open-mindedness ,” said Claire Martin, Head of Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) at Renault.

Team Handisport will include three Paralympic medallists:

- Marie-Amélie Le Fur: Gold medal, 100 metres (2012 London Games)

- Elodie Lorandi: Gold medal, 400 metres, freestyle swimming (2012 London Games)

- Alim Latrèche: Bronze medal, epee (2012 London Games)

The new ambassadors will be involved in various Renault events throughout the year including encounters with employees to raise awareness about disabilities.

The first of these events is, of course, the ICP Athletics World Championship (July 18-29) in Lyon, France. An autograph signing appearance by Marie-Amélie Le Fur is just one of many activities scheduled for this major sporting highlight, where Renault will also have its own space for showcasing cars and distributing fan packs.

The creation of the Renault team provided new impetus to Renault’s 16-year partnership with the Fédération Française Handisport (FFH), the French disability sports federation. Renault provides financial support and loans a fleet of vehicles to transport the athletes. In turn, FFH supports Renault’s disability awareness-building and training actions for its employees. This partnership also acts as a ‘guiding thread’ for the content of the handi@renault* collaborative web platform, for instance by regularly informing its members about French Paralympic team news.

Since 1995, when Renault signed its first disability-related agreement, the Group has actively advocated disability awareness among its customers, employees and suppliers. This commitment translated into the Renault TECH’s Transportation of People with Reduced Mobility service offer as well as the company’s HR policy in favour of hiring and integrating disabled employees.

TEAM RENAULT’S RECORD OF ACHIEVEMENTS

Marie-Amélie Le Fur

• Gold (100 metres), silver (200 metres) and bronze (long jump) medals (2012 London Games)
• World record in women’s disability long jump: 5.43m (2012)
• Gold medal, 100m and 200m (2011 New Zealand IPC Athletics World Championship)
• Two silver medals: 100m and long jump (2008 Summer Paralympic Games, Beijing)

Elodie Lorandi

• Gold medal, 400 metres, freestyle (2012 London Games)
• Silver medal, 100 metres, freestyle (2012 London Games)
• Bronze medal, 50 metres, freestyle and 100 metres butterfly stroke (2012 London Games)
• Silver medal, 200 metres, individual medley (2008 Beijing Games)

Alim Latrèche

• Silver medal in team foil (2012 London Games)
• Bronze medal, individual epee and foil (2012 London Games)
• World vice-champion in individual foil and team epee (2011)
• Bronze medal in individual epee (2011)

Handi@Renault is a collaborative platform that already boasts 800 disabled and non-disabled members. Its aim is to change mentalities within the company and improve the professional life of disabled employees.