Sciences2024
The Physics Laboratory has been involved from the outset in Sciences2024, a collective research program dedicated to supporting French athletes in their quest for titles at the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games. Several advances have been made by the laboratory’s teams, based mainly on experimental studies in two fields: table tennis and cycling.At the request of sports federations, the laboratory has undertaken a detailed study of the rebound of the table tennis ball, in particular on the racket - the subject of Théophile Rémond’s thesis, to be defended in August 2023. In future years, this fundamental research will enable us to understand and optimize table tennis rackets. A larger project, in collaboration with several French "grandes écoles", is currently being set up. In this context, other aspects of table tennis, such as video analysis and game strategies, will be studied.
On the cycling side, the laboratory teams are working closely with the French Cycling Federation (both athletes and coaches) to answer their questions in the field of aerodynamics. In track cycling, these studies - the quality of which was underlined by the federation - helped to win a gold medal. Work on the optimization of athletes’ outfits and on collective aerodynamics also contributed to the award of a gold medal.
Vance Bergeron, Paralympic torchbearer
CNRS Research Director at the Physics Laboratory of ENS de Lyon, Vance Bergeron became a quadriplegic following a cycling accident. He has faced this ordeal with determination, and is now focusing his research on neurological rehabilitation and functional electrical stimulation, which remobilizes paralyzed limbs using weak electrical impulses. He makes his innovations available to the gym run by the ANTS (Sports et thérapies neuro-rééducatives avancées) association, which he co-founded in 2015.For the 2024 Games, the French Paralympic and Sports Committee chose him to carry the Paralympic flame, on Monday August 26 in Vichy.
