Nadir Dendoune grew up in a poor family in suburban Paris after his parents moved to France from Algeria in the 50s to work.
After watching a documentary on TV, he decides to come to Australia in 1993 with a friend for a 3,000-kilometre bicycle ride from Cairns to Sydney.
"At first, we came for three months. The plan was to ride from Cairns to Sydney: 3000 km along the east coast. And as soon as I set foot on the Australian soil, I was like wow! I felt something magical," he says.
"I was coming from Saint-Denis, the housing commissions, abusive controls from the police, where my future seemed jammed, to discover a golden life".
Amazed by nature, the landscapes and the easy-going Aussie culture, Nadir says he felt people were seeing him in a different light.
Nadir Dendoune has written four books and is currently making a movie. He says Australia gave him the confidence that he could do anything. Source: Nadir Dendoune
"It was like I had been struck with a magic wand... In France, I felt like I didn't belong. I was brown-skinned, I was poor, and here suddenly, people are nice and friendly, the policeman says hi."
It was love at first sight for Nadir who decided to come back to Sydney a year later, where he ultimately stayed for eight years and became an Australian citizen. This experience, he says changed his life and made him realise that anything is possible.
"All my life, I was told I was a nobody, that I wasn't able to do anything and that it was useless to fight. And these three first months kind of turned something on in me."
Clearly, without this Cairns to Sydney trip, I wouldn't have done anything else. It wasn't just a trip, but also a wake-up call. It made me realise I had the right to have a nice life, to be happy.
He says the trip gave him the confidence to take on new adventures. When he went back to Paris in 2001, he was not on a plane, but his bicycle. Sponsored by the Australian Red Cross, he raised awareness about HIV/AIDS all around the world.
Climbing the Everest without any experience
Seven years later, in 2008, he did the unthinkable. He took on the highest mountain in the world, Mount Everest and successfully climbed the summit without any experience.
"I went to Nepal and became friends with a guy who organised expeditions to the Everest. We met again a couple of years later in Paris, and he convinced me I had what it took, physically and mentally, to climb the Everest. But he also said that first I should train on other mountains, like the Mont Blanc, the Kilimandjaro or the Aconcagua."
A few years later, he got a call from his Nepalese friend, telling him to get ready for the climb. Except he hadn't climbed any mountains to prepare for climbing the Everest.
"The highest I had ever climbed was the Montmartre Hill which is about 120m high," he says.
Surprisingly, Nadir managed to get on top. But why would he take such a massive risk?
"I was kind of angry that people from poor neighbourhoods in France and non-white people, in particular, would only succeed in soccer, boxing and hip-hop. Very few play classical music, ride-on rollers, hike on mountains or play the piano."
"Even though I think we can fit anywhere. So I also wanted to show to all these kids who are in doubt that even if you're coloured and poor, that you can climb on top of the Everest, practice rich people's sports and also, let's be honest, white people sports."
The movie adapted from Nadir's story on the Everest can be seen in Australia on Netflix, under the title "the Climb" Source: Mars Distribution
Australia always on the mind
Mr Dendoune told his story in a book 'Un tocard sur le toit du monde' (A loser on top of the world), which was later adapted into a movie, 'The climb'.
"The movie had a lot of success in the poor suburbs, but also in small French villages because we managed to make a universal movie. And also because they're faced with the same issues: they don't have public transports, schools are far, and some areas are medical deserts. They are despised by the French authorities the same way that we are in the suburbs," he says.
"This is why I think if one day, the suburbs and the villages join their forces, we'll be alright".
Mr Dendoune didn't stop at his sports accomplishments. He has written four books and shot documentaries. He's currently working on his first movie that he hopes to release in cinemas by 2022.
He credits his accomplishments to his experiences in Australia and says Australians widened its perspective on life like no one before. While he went back to Paris after living in Australia for eight years, the country is never out of his mind.
"Even though it's been so many years since I left, just talking about it makes me want to come back."
