Hardis Group will support para-cyclist Florian Jouanny, a triple Paralympic medallist from Isère in southeastern France, through to the 2024 Paralympic Games in Paris. The partnership is part of the Group’s policy to raise disability awareness and include people with disabilities in its workforce.
Grenoble, March 24, 2022 – Hardis Group, a consulting firm, digital services company and independent software vendor, is sponsoring triple-Paralympic-medallist and para-cyclist Florian Jouanny. The arrangement follows a longstanding tradition of supporting elite non-disabled and disabled athletes. Hardis Group has previously announced its backing for Agnès Raharolahy, double European champion in the 4 x 400 meters relay and French indoor champion over 800 meters, for the French bobsled team for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games in Beijing, and for Julien Granjean for his attempt to set a new 24-hour distance record in the “Joëlette” (an all-terrain wheelchair for people with reduced mobility). The Group is also supporting Les FABulou’S, a learning disability rugby team at RC Seyssins rugby club, ahead of the French learning disability rugby championships, which will take place at the club on May 6–8, 2022.
Supporting local elite athletes
For Hardis Group, this new sponsorship arrangement marks a new phase in its support for elite athletes. Florian Jouanny was born in Echirolles, southeastern France, in 1992. An injury caused by serious skiing accident in April 2011 left him quadriplegic (C6/C7 classification). After months of physiotherapy and training, and driven by sheer determination, he took up para-cycling and, later, para-triathlon.
Jouanny has an impressive list of honors and titles:
- At the 2020 Summer Paralympic Games in Tokyo, he won a gold medal in the H2 para-cycling road race, a silver medal in the team relay, and a bronze medal in the time trial.
- In 2017, he became the first European paraplegic athlete to complete an Ironman Triathlon, consisting of a 2.4-mile (3.8-km) swim, a 112-mile (180.2-km) handcycle ride and a 26.2-mile (42.195-km) wheelchair race.
- He was crowned French champion in the road race and time trial in 2018, 2019, 2020, and 2021.
- At the 2021 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships in Cascais, Portugal, he came third in the time trial and road race events.
- At the 2021 UCI Para-cycling Road World Cup in Ostend, Belgium, he came second in the time trial and road race events.
- At the 2019 UCI Para-cycling Road World Championships, he finished in sixth place.
“I’m delighted to have the backing of Hardis Group, which is based in my native Isère, as I prepare for my upcoming challenges through to the 2024 Paralympics,” said Jouanny, “I was impressed by the company’s human values and the efforts they’re making to raise awareness of disability among their workforce. I’ll take the opportunity this partnership offers to talk to Hardis Group employees and learn more about their digital-focused business.”
Raising disability awareness and hiring more people with disabilities
This sponsorship arrangement builds on existing HR and CSR initiatives designed to foster diversity, retrain the long-term unemployed, and provide career opportunities for workers with disabilities. As part of the partnership, which will run through to 2024, Jouanny will take part in internal events and campaigns to raise disability awareness among employees and managers.
"Our diversity and inclusion policy focuses on a number of key themes, including disability,” said Yvan Coutaz, Managing Director of Hardis Group. “Hearing from inspiring people like Florian is a great way to support our aims: raising awareness of disability and fostering a work environment that provides long-term opportunities for people with disabilities".