Paralympic athlete Rosario Murcia-Gangloff already looking ahead to Los Angeles 2028

She still gets goosebumps thinking about it. After finishing just off the podium at the Paralympic Games in Paris on September 8, 2024, the Lyon native, a leading figure in French middle-distance running in the 1990s with 28 caps, spoke at length by phone on her way back from training about her passion for running, her philosophy of life and her latest results. All this with her 61st birthday just around the corner.

Rosario, almost a year after the Paralympic Games, what memories stay with you?

My memories of Paris are etched deep in my mind. There was such an incredible wave of enthusiasm. And yet I competed in Barcelona in 1992. That was magical too, because everything was so well organised. It was beautiful. My first Games. But I can assure you that Paris was incredible, quite apart from the fact that I am disabled now. The people were extraordinary. They were happy. We completely forgot what was happening in the rest of the world. It will be hard to top that. There was parity between disabled and able-bodied athletes, with no discrimination. It is very difficult for people with disabilities because there is no financial support. You have to find somewhere to train. A sense of nostalgia starts to set in. I went back to Paris quite recently because my husband works there and he is an actor. We retraced part of the Champs-Élysées. It gave me goosebumps.

From the way you describe it, was it even better than your first Olympic Games?

It was different because I was younger in Barcelona. For every athlete, whatever the discipline, the goal was the Games. Whether you finished at the front or the back. It was at my parents’ home because I am the daughter of an immigrant. My dad is from Barcelona. My grandmother still lived there at the time. She is no longer with us, but I used to go and eat at her house. It was a 600-metre walk and I was there. Everything felt magical to me back then. It seemed normal to us because we were elite athletes. But when you look back with 30 more years behind you, with more wisdom and less youthful fire than you had at the time, I don’t know how to describe it. It was magical.

Timothée Adolphe, a double Paralympic silver medallist in Paris over 100m and 400m, said the Games had left no real legacy. Do you agree?

I understand what Timothée is saying. I really do, because it is true that there could be more discussion about disabled people. But we must not forget that if you look back five or even ten years, disability was not well known. Nobody talked about it. There was no advertising. People now see para sport differently.

© CNOSF / KMSP

© CNOSF / KMSP

© CNOSF / KMSP

“For young athletes, the goal is to improve. For older athletes, the goal is to maintain.”

After your Paralympic marathon in Paris, you said you would probably line up in Los Angeles in 2028. Is that still the plan? If so, how will you build the next three years?

I’m going for another Olympic cycle. I finished Paris in a bit of pain. I’m alive, I’m fit and healthy. Then, as my husband Gilles Gangloff says, “stop messing around (laughs).” My coach Bernard Pelletier and I have eased off considerably in a lot of areas. We don’t know when the marathon at the World Championships will be held. It is scheduled for New Delhi from September 27 to October 5, but it isn’t in the programme. As a precaution, I’m going to prepare for one at the end of the season, the Marathon Vert de Rennes, on the weekend of October 25. You have to race them to retain your elite status. The performance will count towards the international ranking. I’m trying to preserve myself so I don’t wear out my little body. I’m not 20 anymore. I’ve enjoyed racing 5,000m and 3,000m, but I haven’t done anything really long. I’m doing a bit of preparation because the years go by. For young athletes, the goal is to improve. For older athletes, the goal is to maintain. After the French 5,000m Championships in Belfort, where I finished fifth overall in 20:12.96, I took almost a week off. I’m gradually getting back into it this week, then I’ll start the pre-marathon build-up in August.

You have decided to create an athletics club in Béziers. What motivated you?

Yes. Mr Ménard, the mayor of Béziers, and the sports department gave me permission to create another club, and that is what will happen at the start of the new season. A second club is being set up. We already have more than 55 members. I’ll continue as a coach. My husband will be president. Other friends will also sit on the committee. And as treasurer, I’ll bring in a chartered accountant. It will use the same track and the same familiar times. The club already exists. It will be called Grand Béziers Athlète Trail. Quite simply. Because trail is part of running. You do intervals on the track. You do intervals over longer distances. It’s all running.

I can run with him with my eyes closed, no problem at all.

You were patron of the 2025 Marathon Côte Indigo in Aude, where you ran the 5K in aid of the Refuge Arpan animal shelter. What message did you want to convey?

I love animals. I have two old girls, aged 15 and 16, who ran with me for years but are now retired (smiles). And I adopted another one. I no longer have children at home, but I have dogs and cats. I’ve always had them and always will. I’ve fed feral cats. I help out wherever I can. There were an enormous number of people there, more than 4,000 across the four events: 5K, 10K, half marathon and marathon. We have to be responsible. We need to know how to care for animals instead of abandoning them. You can’t just take a dog or a cat and leave it with someone else or give it away for someone to look after. An animal is not a toy. An animal is like a child. Once you have one, you see it through to the end. Personally, animals give me more than people do. They give me more because they sense things, they feel, and they are there when you need someone. That’s how I feel about it.

You won the 2025 French 10K Championships in 40:39 in the T12 category on March 16 in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles, with your guide Mathieu Leroux. What does he mean to you?

Mathieu and I are mostly in touch by phone and text. He is incredibly busy as president of his club, La Meute Running. When I really need him for an important competition, he is there. He’s a great guy, straight as an arrow. He is absolutely first-rate. Our coordination is flawless. I can run with him with my eyes closed, no problem at all. He handles everything, exactly like my husband. When we hit a difficult patch, he won’t tell me that we’ve slowed down. He never would. Instead, he’ll say, “you’re doing well.” When he talks to you, it’s reassuring. We don’t even need to train together regularly. After the Games, we met up for the French 10K Championships near Bordeaux, in Saint-Médard-en-Jalles. There wasn’t a single problem. If we work so well together, it’s no accident. Mathieu is an incredible and very serious person. He is very serious, but at the same time, if you don’t know him, you might think he has a dry sense of humour. You have to get to know him, because he is actually a very cheerful person.

Do you have any other challenges on the horizon?

Yes, I’m going to prepare for the half marathon at… (she calls her husband). It’s the Semi-Marathon des Oussaillès in Saint-Girons. It’s in Ariège, in département 09, on August 24. For the past three or four years, my motto has been to race almost exclusively for good causes. I pay my entry fee for good causes, whether it’s children, animals, people with disabilities or abused women.

At 60, Rosario Murcia-Gangloff proves that age is no barrier to achieving your dreams when you put in the work. Despite the conflict with her athletics club in Béziers, this mother of three will be on the starting line of the Los Angeles Paralympic marathon. Astonishing.