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- Jean Quevillon
Jean Quevillon
Don’t whine, try!
If there is one thing that Jean Quevillon has repeatedly told himself over the past 20 years,
it is: Try!
Try talking, walking, riding a bike. Laughing? No, Jean Quevillon has no
need to try that, teasing and smiling are inborn!
In his early 20’s, Jean Quevillon was run over by a car. The then young accountant woke up
from a coma two months later. With one side of him paralysed, Jean could not do anything
anymore. It took him 10 years to relearn how to walk and talk. Since the accident, when
someone tells me I can’t do something, I try and try
he hammers out. He participated in
his third Paralympic Games in Beijing, in the summer of 2008.
Road and track cyclist, Jean Quevillon won the first medal for the Canadian team when he took
the bronze in the 3,000 m pursuit. I did not have great
expectations like that, but it was a good piece of work! Job well done!
he says of his
performance in Beijing.
Cycling is a large part of the Sainte-Adèle resident’s life and the Défi sportif
was the opportunity for him to assert himself. At the Défi, we are
known as athletes, not only as people with a disability. We are alive! We show that we are
capable to go beyond our limits.
And Johnny Boy, as he is nicknamed, knows no limits. In winter, he skies, skates and
snowshoes, and during the summer, he likes hiking in Mont-Tremblant park, inline skating and
jogging in the woods. I’m a woods guy
, he reckons. I did my rehab in Montréal, but I
need the peacefulness of nature.
Writing by talking
But that does not keep him from returning to the Centre de réadaptation
Lucie-Bruneau in the metropolis where a thing awaits him as he says. Unable to
read or write since the accident, Jean works with a machine that, through voice recognition,
writes what he says. For this athlete who travels, being able to keep in touch with friends
and family is a dream he holds dear. And if it works out well, I could even write a book on
myself
, he says enthusiastically.
And his message would be rather direct: try before you whine. Because that
is living!
he says. Do you want to live or sulk?
he asks. You have only one life
and there are so many things to try.
And you can count on Jean Quevillon to do just that.
