Cyril Jonard is a French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 judoka. He competes in judo events for the visually impaired

Visual impairment

Visual impairment is vision loss to such a degree as to qualify as an additional support need through a significant limitation of visual capability resulting from either disease, trauma, or congenital or degenerative conditions that cannot be corrected by conventional means, such as refractive...

 and blind

Blindness

Blindness is the condition of lacking visual perception due to physiological or neurological factors.Various scales have been developed to describe the extent of vision loss and define blindness...

. Jonard has Usher syndrome

Usher syndrome

Usher syndrome is a relatively rare genetic disorder that is a leading cause of deafblindness and that is associated with a mutation in any one of 10 genes. Other names for Usher syndrome include Hallgren syndrome, Usher-Hallgren syndrome, rp-dysacusis syndrome and dystrophia retinae dysacusis...

; he is both deaf and visually impaired. He competes against non-deaf judoka.

Jonard took part in the 2004 Summer Paralympics

2004 Summer Paralympics

The 2004 Summer Paralympics were held in Athens, Greece, from September 17 to September 28. The twelfth Paralympic Games, an estimated 4,000 athletes took part in the Athens programme, with ages ranging from 11 to 66. Paralympic events had already taken place during the 2004 Summer Olympics as...

 in Athens

Athens

Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...

. He won gold in the men's half-middleweight category (-81 kg) when he defeated Japan

Japan

Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...

's Yuji Kato by ippon

Ippon

Ippon literally "one full point", it is the highest score a fighter can achieve in a Japanese martial arts ippon-wazari contest, usually judo, karate or jujutsu.-Ippon in judo:...

 within just a few seconds in the final.

He was subsequently awarded a knigthood in the Légion d'honneur

Légion d'honneur

The Legion of Honour, or in full the National Order of the Legion of Honour is a French order established by Napoleon Bonaparte, First Consul of the Consulat which succeeded to the First Republic, on 19 May 1802...

, the highest decoration in France, by French President Jacques Chirac

Jacques Chirac

Jacques René Chirac is a French politician who served as President of France from 1995 to 2007. He previously served as Prime Minister of France from 1974 to 1976 and from 1986 to 1988 , and as Mayor of Paris from 1977 to 1995.After completing his studies of the DEA's degree at the...

. He also received a personal letter of congratulations from President Chirac for his achievement.

Jonard represented France

France at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

France sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. France sent 119 athletes, who competed in 13 sports: athletics, rowing, cycling, equestrian, wheelchair fencing, weightlifting, judo, swimming, table tennis, wheelchair tennis, shooting, archery and sailing...

 again at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

2008 Summer Paralympics

The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games, the thirteenth Paralympics, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to September 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao....

 in Beijing

Beijing

Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's...

, and won silver in the under 81 kg category, defeated in the final by Cuba

Cuba at the 2008 Summer Paralympics

Cuba competed at the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing, China. The country's delegation consisted of 32 competitors in athletics, judo, powerlifting, swimming, and table tennis. The competitors came from 13 different provinces and were mostly first-year university students.- Medalists :...

's Isao Cruz.