13th September 2014

FRENCHMAN ROGER HOYOUX WANTS TO COMPETE IN AMERICA AFTER SECURING HIS SECOND INVICTUS GAMES MEDAL IN THE INDOOR ROWING

13 September 2014

French athlete Roger Hoyoux has set his sights on competing all over the world having gotten the taste for winning medals at the Invictus Games.

Hoyoux was serving as a Sergeant Major in the French Army when he was caught in a bomb attack on the French embassy in Libya last year, damaging his shoulder and ribs.

But just months after being able to take up sport again, Hoyoux picked up a gold medal in the one-minute sprint indoor rowing event at the Invictus Games, presented by Jaguar Land Rover.

It wasn't the first medal Hoyoux has won this week, with a silver from the 4x100m mixed relay in Thursday's athletics at the Lee Valley Athletics Centre, also making the quarter-finals of Friday's archery competition.

And while the Frenchman admits rowing and archery are quite difficult for him, with the limited mobility in his right shoulder, he insists he's in it for the challenge.

“Now that I've competed in the Invictus Games I would like to go on to compete in America at the Wounded Warrior Trials and maybe at the international military competition in South Korea,” he said.

“I have only really played sports for four months but it's really important for me to be involved with my friends and with the French team participating here in the Invictus Games.

“I competed in the athletics on Thursday in the 100m, 200m and I won a silver medal in the relay for France, and I also reached the quarter finals of the archery on Friday. And on Saturday I will be competing in the swimming, so I have a lot of events this week!

“I enjoy the track and field events because when I was younger I used to be a sprinter. It's also easier for me to practice athletics with my injuries, but I enjoy the challenge that rowing and archery present.”