Camille Lacourt

Camille Lacourt
Personal information
Full name Camille Lacourt
National team  France
Born (1985-04-22) 22 April 1985
Narbonne, France
Height 2.00 m (6 ft 7 in)[1]
Weight 85 kg (187 lb)[1]
Sport
Sport Swimming
Strokes Backstroke
Club CN Marseille

Camille Lacourt (French pronunciation: ​[kamij lakuʁ]; born 22 April 1985) is a French competitive swimmer and backstroke specialist. He competed at the 2012 Olympics in the 100-metre individual backstroke finished fourth. In the 2016 Rio Olympics, he finished fifth in the same event.

Swimming career

2010 - Breakthrough year

Lacourt collected 3 gold medal at the European Championships, Lacourt became European Champion in the 100 m backstroke (long course) before French compatriot Jérémy Stravius in a time of 52.11.[2] This time was a new European record and the second fastest time ever, second to Aaron Peirsol's 51.94 on 8 July 2009. He collected the 50m backstroke title in a time of 24.07, also bumping him up to the second fastest performer of all time in that event. On the final night the collected gold in the 4 × 100 m Medley relay.[3]

Following years

Lacourt collected a series of medals at World Championships in the following years: one gold and one silver in 2011 in Shanghai, two gold in 2013 in Barcelona, and one of each medal in 2015 in Kazan. He finished 4th in the 100 metre backstroke at the 2012 Summer Olympics, and failed to win any medals.

After missing the 2014 European championship due to a hip injury, he won 2 golds at the 2016 European swimming championship.

Lacourt once again failed to win any medals at the 2016 Summer Olympics. Following his 5th-place finish in the 100 metre backstroke, Lacourt made international news after criticizing the sport of swimming and making disparaging remarks about Chinese swimmer Sun Yang. In a post-race interview with French radio station RMCsport, Lacourt said: "I am very sad when I see my sport getting like this. I have the impression I am looking at athletics, with two or three doped in each final. I hope that FINA is going to react and stop this massacre, because it is getting sad," and finished with "Sun Yang, he pisses purple!"[4][5] After being defeated by Xu Jiayu of China, who won the silver medal in the 100 metre backstroke, Lacourt said, "I don't like being beaten by a Chinese."[6][7]

Personal life

Married to Valérie Bègue, Miss France 2008, since August 2008, he is the father of a girl, Jazz, born in October 2012.

Personal bests (long course)

Event Time Date
50 m backstroke 24.07 NR 12 August 2010
100 m backstroke 52.11 ER 10 August 2010
200 m backstroke 2:00.57 7 April 2010

See also

References

  1. 1 2 Camille Lacourt. sports-reference.com
  2. ↑ "Men's 100 m Backstroke Results" (PDF). Omega Timing. 10 August 2010. Retrieved 10 August 2010.
  3. ↑ "Lacourt Leaves Gaping Gap On 24.07". 12 August 2010.
  4. ↑ "JO 2016, l'énorme colère de Lacourt sur le dopage : "Sun Yang, il pisse violet"" [2016 Olympics, the very angry Lacourt on doping: "Sun Yang, he pisses purple"]. RMCsport. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  5. ↑ "Rio 2016: Camille Lacourt joins doping criticism of Chinese star Sun Yang after 200m gold medal". ABC News (Australia). AFP. 8 August 2016. Retrieved 9 August 2016.
  6. ↑ "The gold winner who 'pisses purple', according to his Olympic rival". 2016-08-09. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
  7. ↑ "Chinese champ 'pees purple' says beaten Frenchman". 2016-08-09. Retrieved 2016-08-10.
Awards
Preceded by
Paul Biedermann		 European Swimmer of the Year
2010 		Succeeded by
Alexander Dale Oen


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