Pablo Faye

“Just after my transplant, I never wanted to stop.”

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Athletics taught me very early on to never give up, and that’s probably what helped me stand strong both against illness and on the track. I started this sport at the age of 8, drawn to speed, technique, but above all to the challenge of every hurdle to clear. Very quickly, it became more than just a sport: it was a way to learn how to fight, to build structure in my life, and to grow.

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Between 2019 and 2021, I reached an important milestone. I competed in my first French Championships, finished fourth, and found myself ranked among the top 7 athletes in the world of my generation in the 110m hurdles. I was also invited to several national training camps with the French youth team. Everything seemed to be opening up… but what came next was very different.

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From 2022 to 2024, illness turned my career upside down. Severe kidney failure brought injuries, exhaustion, and sacrifices, eventually postponing my plan to leave for an American university. Still, I held on: just a few weeks before surgery, I managed a performance that placed me among the best French and European athletes of my age group, even though I was dealing with extreme fatigue and almost no training. For me, that moment remains a true symbol of resilience.

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After a difficult transplant in 2025, I started the long road back: physiotherapy, swimming, strength training, then a gradual return to the track… with one clear goal in mind: to come back stronger, but also more aware of what this sport truly means to me.

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Today, I am carving out a new path. My focus is now on the major milestones ahead: getting closer to the podium at the French Elite Championships, earning an international selection, and above all keeping in sight the dream that drives me every day: the 2028 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Every training session, every step forward, is no longer just a comeback — it’s a construction toward these goals, a story I continue to write hurdle after hurdle.