Jean Boiteux

Jean Boiteux (born June 20, 1933 in Marseille , † April 11, 2010 near Bordeaux ) was a French swimmer .

Jean Boiteux started during his active time for the clubs DTOEC , JUS Oran and G Bordeaux . He was the son of the synchronized swimmer Karine Schuler and nephew of the swimmer Salvator Pellegry . At the Summer Olympics in Helsinki in 1952 , he won the gold medal in the 400 m freestyle and improved the Olympic record he set himself in the semifinals on this distance of 4: 33.1 minutes by over 10 seconds. This made him the first Frenchman to become an Olympic champion in swimming . He also won the bronze medal with the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay and competed in the 1500 m freestyle, but did not reach the final there. For the second time he started at the 1956 Games in Melbourne and was sixth in the 1,500 m freestyle , but this time missed the final over 400 m freestyle. Boiteux also missed the final with the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay . The French competed in the 1960 Olympic Games in Rome for the third time and was used in the 200 m freestyle relay, which, like four years earlier, missed the final.

Between 1951 and 1956 Boiteux set three European records over 400 m freestyle, in 1952 a European record over 800 m, 1956 over 1500 m freestyle and in 1951 together with Joseph Bernardo , Willy Blioch and Alex Jany in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay . In 1982 Boiteux was inducted into the hall of fame of international swimming . As early as 1952, he was voted France's Sportsman of the Year (“ Champion des champions ”) by the sports newspaper L'Équipe .

Boiteux died in 2010 as a result of an accident.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Olympic champion fatally injured , Tagesanzeiger, April 12, 2010.

Web links

• Jean Boiteux in the database of Sports-Reference (English; archived from the original )
• Jean Boiteux in the International Swimming Hall of Fame (English)