Léon Dupont

Léon Dupont (born May 18, 1881 , † October 6, 1956 ) was a Belgian athlete who took second place in the standing vault at the 1906 Olympic Intermediate Games in Athens .

Career

Dupont appeared in the interludes in three disciplines. In the standing long jump he finished fourth behind the three Americans Ray Ewry , Martin Sheridan and Lawson Robertson with 2.975 meters . Five days later, Dupont could not qualify for the high jump final. The next day on May 1, 1906, the final of the standing vault took place; Raymond Ewry clearly won with 1.56 meters, behind them Sheridan, Robertson and Dupont each crossed 1.40 meters and were honored together for second place.

Two years later at the Olympic Games in London in 1908 , Dupont appeared again in his three disciplines. He could not place himself in the standing long jump. In the high jump, Dupont, who had a best performance of 1.75 meters, jumped over 1.67 meters and thus did not qualify for the final, he is led as 16th of the competition. In the standing vault, he crossed 1.42 meters. He did not reach the final, but is listed as eighth of the competition together with other jumpers.

Léon Dupont was the first Belgian Olympic medalist in athletics. It was not until 1948 in London won by Etienne Gailly and Gaston Reiff two Belgian runners Olympic medals, Reiff was the first Belgian athletics Olympic champion. In jumping disciplines, the Olympic gold medalist in the pole vault of 1924 in Paris, Maurice Henrijean, was the only Belgian athlete besides Léon Dupont to place in the top eight until Tia Hellebaut won the women's high jump in Beijing in 2008 .

Web links

• Léon Dupont in the Sports-Reference database (English; archived from the original )