It is rare to see the grand duchy’s flag flying during a medal ceremony at the Olympic or Paralympic Games: Luxembourg is still waiting for the successor of naturalised alpine skier Marc Girardelli (double winner at the 1992 Winter Games) and Josy Barthel, gold medallist in the men’s 1,500 metres in 1952 in Helsinki. In the Paralympic Games, there has been a dearth of medals since the memorable 1984 Games in Stoke Mandeville and New York (six medals including one gold).

This Saturday, for the first time in over 37 years, there is a chance that the streak will end--thanks to Tom Habscheid. Starting at 7:44pm local time (12:44pm in Luxembourg) at the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, the shot putter in the F63 category will be one of the main favourites in the fight for the podium. World and European vice-champion Habscheid, who is the grand duchy’s only representative in Japan, will undoubtedly face his great rival, the Briton Aled Davies.

In August 2012, sitting quietly in front of his TV following the London Olympic Games, Tom Habscheid fell under the spell of the shot put and discus events. In August 2016, almost four years later to the day, he was at the mythical Maracanã stadium in Rio, competing in the shot put competition at the Paralympic Games (where he finished seventh). Now that is a meteoric rise! This is all the more impressive considering that Habscheid was born with a malformation in his left femur, resulting in a shorter and atrophied leg. But despite this handicap, he has always been sporty, skiing and swimming and playing football.

In 2019, as a semi-professional athlete and juggling his job as a receptionist at the Centre National de l’Audiovisuel (CNA) with his sporting activities, the Dudelange native became the vice-world champion in shot put and set the world record in his category as well. In June this year, he became the European vice-champion. Habscheid was second to Davies on each of these occasions. Therefore, his challenge this time around is quite clear: to finally succeed in beating the Briton and climbing onto the top step of the podium.

This article in Paperjam. It has been translated and edited for Delano.