Brahim Guendouz: whizz in the kitchen and on a kayak

In a backward orange baseball cap and sunglasses, Algerian  Para canoeist  Brahim Guendouz served up the performance of his life at the Paris 2024 Paralympic Games.

With the same razzle-dazzle as he plates up meals, Guendouz, a chef by trade, blitzed the men's kayak single 200m KL3 final to become Africa’s first-ever Para canoe gold medallist.

Guendouz was the only competitor to clock a time under 40 seconds, sweeping to victory in 39.91, ahead of Australia's Dylan Littlehales and Brazil’s  Miqueias Elias Rodrigues.

Post-race, he roared with pride and beat the side of his boat like a drum.

“It was a dream come true,” Guendouz told the IPC, reliving that magical day at the Vaires-Sur-Marne Nautical Stadium.

Trailblazers and history-makers

Guendouz, along with Senegal’s Edmond Sanka, who placed fifth in the same final, were the first Para canoe athletes representing African countries to qualify for the Paralympics. 

The pair wanted to make Africa proud and had “big motivation to go beyond” their limits, Guendouz said.

But Guendouz’s Paralympic campaign was not all smooth sailing.

His plan to go straight from the heats into the final had not panned out, but a pep talk from his father was a turning point.

“I remember the night I finished the heat. My father called me and said: ‘Focus.... You have to do this. You worked so hard. Give it all you got.’ He said, ‘Tomorrow, I want you to die on the water.’ And I was like ‘Ok’,” he said.

Guendouz credits his family’s love and support for helping him reach his best.

His father is a keen martial arts, karate and judo enthusiast, and his grandfather enjoyed boxing.

“I think I get the spirit of competing because of them,” said the 26-year-old athlete, who was born with right fibular hemimelia. 

He had nine operations as a child and learnt to walk at about the age of 14 after using a wheelchair during his childhood.

“I’m so grateful to my family, even when I was a kid, they raised me that I was not different. ‘You are better than everybody.’ That’s what made me who I am today. My mother and my father, they worked so much to make me grow up with a strong mentality from a very young age,” Guendouz said.

‘It is my place’

Guendouz took up Para canoe in 2017 after a friend introduced him to the kayak. He previously dabbled in karate and cycling.

“From day one that I go on the boat, I know that it is my place. I want to be here.”

Before the Paris 2024 Games, his best effort had been a bronze medal in 2023 at the World Championships in Duisburg, Germany.

Looking ahead, Guendouz hopes to maintain his momentum from Paris in the coming competition season.

In June, he will head to Spain for training ahead of the International Canoe Federation’s Para canoe World Championship in Milan, Italy, in August.

Guendouz is also determined to defend his Paralympic title and qualify for the LA28 Paralympic Games in the USA in 2028.

“I’m already in preparation, I’m training at a training camp now in Algeria,” he said earlier in May. 

Sports ambassador

The win in Paris has since generated a lot of interest in Para canoe in Algeria, and now Guendouz is enjoying being a sports ambassador, encouraging other youngsters to try paddling.

“I think that victory is going to make the big jump for the African Para canoe community,” he said. “From Paris until now, I have seen a lot of development (of the sport), especially in Algeria.”

“I’ve seen how much people want to go and participate in this sport. This made my day.”

Asked about the biggest challenges athletes from African countries face in their Paralympic journeys, Guendouz said access to equipment and professional sports facilities was a big hurdle for many.

“In 2017, I was training in a normal K1, I didn’t have a Para canoe boat,” he said.

Away from his boat, Guendouz loves experimenting in the kitchen and with photography.

He hopes to one day open a restaurant.

His signature dish is the Chakhchoukha - a traditional Algerian tomato stew with pasta, meat, vegetables, chickpeas and spices. 

“It’s very delicious,” he said.

Just as sweet as victory in the kayak.