Marcel Hug on Tuesday was named the flagbearer of Switzerland alongside Elena Kratter at the Paris Paralympic Games opening ceremony that takes place on Wednesday, August 28 in the French capital. (More Sports News)
The Paris Paralympics will be sixth for Hug but the first for him where he will be lead the Switzerland team at the opening ceremony. Hug, regarded as one of the best in the world in the T54 wheelchair racing, dominated the track in Tokyo and will once again be looking to do the same in Paris. The 'Silver Bullet', as Hug is called due to his helmet's colour, is in fine form and looks set for another big medal haul in Paris.
With the 2024 Paris Paralympic Games about to begin, here is all you need to know about Marcel Hug.
Who is Marcel Hug?
Marcel Hug, is a Swiss wheelchair racer who competes in the T54 category. Hug was born with a spinal cord defect called spina bifida in Thurgau, Switzerland. The country is already home to two all-time wheelchair racing greats Franz Nietlispach and Heinz Frei. Hug too was inspired to take up the sport after a meeting with Nietlispach.
Hug started when he was 10 and soon started competing in Switzerland and abroad.
Marcel Hug at the Paralympics
Hug was just 18 when he began his Paralympics career in Athens, Greece. In his very first Paralympics, Hug returned with two bronze medals, winning 800m and 1,500m T54 bronze. He also made the finals of the 400m and 1,500m T54.
Hug had excelled at the junior level and he was earning accolades at the elite level as well. However, Beijing 2008 was a humbling experience for the 'Silver Bullet'. He returned from the Chinese capital without a medal but four years later in London, Hug was determined to do better.
In London, Hug had to settle for two silver in the 800m and marathon silvers. The Swiss had entered the London Paralympics as a favourite but his fierce rival David Weir did not let him win gold. The wait for gold finally ended in Rio in 2016.
His first Paralympic gold came in in the 800m and then he got another one on the last day of the competition in the men's T54 marathon. Hug also clinched two silvers in the 1500m and 5000m races.
In Tokyo, he went a level up to win four gold medals one each in 1500m, 800m, 5000m and the marathon. The Tokyo sweep took Hug's Paralympics medal tally to 12, to which he will be adding to add a few more in Paris.
Marcel Hug other records
While the six Paralympic gold medals are impressive, it is not all that he has. Hug is a 12-time world champion, world record holder in the marathon, half-marathon, 10,000m and 1,500m, as well as a multiple winner of the marathon majors.
One of his all-time great string of records came in a four-day period in June 2010 where he broke the world records in four events on each day. Between the 24 and 27 June 2010 Hug set new world records in four events in the T54 category: the 800m (1:31.12), 1,500m (2:54.51), 5,000m (9:53.05) and 10,000m (19:50.04).
