FAIRBANK Charlotte

Athlete, Student

Law - University of Southampton, Great Britain

English, French, Italian, Spanish

She took up the sport in 2014. (ohmymag.com, 17 Aug 2020)

She practised swimming, athletics and equestrian sports before her accident. She took up wheelchair tennis around seven years after her accident without any particular interest in doing a sporting career. "I liked tennis and I often went to Roland Garros to watch the matches but I always played a little bit. I was not passionate. I was invited to try [wheelchair tennis] two or three years after my accident, but I refused. But in 2014-15 I wanted to start practising a wheelchair sport and I said, 'why not tennis?' And I never stopped because I really loved it." She was convinced to take up the sport seriously after a six-month stint in Argentina where she played every day with the national team. "I started taking some courses and I immediately liked it. The coach offered me hte chance to join the national team and to play professionally, and I accepted it right away!" (ohmymag.com, 17 Aug 2020; fondationbanquepopulaire.fr, 2018; start.lesechos.fr, 23 Jul 2021)

To win a medal at the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. (start.lesechos.fr, 23 Jul 2021)

She trains up to four hours a day at either the Porte d'Auteuil national training centre in Paris, France, or at the facilities of the Tennis Committee of the Yvelines department in Feucherolles. (start.lesechos.fr, 23 Jul 2021)

"Nothing is impossible when you do what is needed." (ohmymag.com, 17 Aug 2020)