DEVOS Laurens

Classification
TT9 (ipttc.org, 01 Apr 2020)

Type of Impairment
Cerebral Palsy (Athlete, 14 May 2016)

Origin of Impairment
Acquired (Athlete, 14 May 2016)

Impairment Details
He was born with cerebral palsy as a result of a lack of oxygen at birth. The condition mainly affects the movement on the right side of his body. (paralympic.org, 01 Jan 2018)

General
MEDIA ATTENTION
He says that he did not anticipate the level of media attention he received after returning to Belgium following his gold medal at the 2016 Paralympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. "I did not expect to win the tournament, so of course I had not prepared for the enormous media attention. When I returned to Belgium, I did not have a single rest day for the first three to four weeks. It was running from one interview to another, sometimes even for TV shows." He believes the lack of expectation helped him win gold in 2016, and that he will be playing under more pressure at the 2020 Games in Tokyo. "Back then the main intention was to gain experience. A gold medal was really the goal for Tokyo 2020, not Rio. I was able to play without stress and that eventually got me the gold. I didn't even lose a set. That will be the big difference this time. Everyone will view me as the big favourite and want to beat me." (underdogsportsblog.sport.blog, 17 Mar 2020)

At age 16 years and 27 days, he became the youngest male table tennis player to win gold at the Paralympic Games, when he was victorious in the TT9 singles event at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. (paralympic.org, 01 Jan 2018)