STAFF and students at St Benedict’s School, Ealing, are celebrating after former pupil Dimitri Coutya won gold for Britain in the wheelchair fencing at the Paris Paralympics.
Dimitri, who attended St. Benedict’s from 2009 to 2016, won his first Paralympic gold in the men’s foil B category.
He took up the sport when he first joined St Benedict’s at the age of 11. There, the fencing programme enabled him to develop his natural skill and passion for the sport.
He was spotted by a GB Paralympic coach at the age of 13 and his sporting career really took off.
Dimitri won bronze in the 2011 UK School Games and subsequently took part in the Paralympic Inspiration Programme during London 2012.
He made his Paralympic debut at Rio 2016 and collected team foil silver and team épée bronze in Tokyo 2021.
St Benedict’s head Joe Smith commented: “We are all so proud of Dimitri. Hopefully, his success will inspire many able-bodied and less able-bodied individuals to take up fencing, which is such a popular and thriving sport [here].”
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