Laure Manaudou and her athletic career
Born on the 9th of October 1986 in Villeurbanne Rhone, Laure is a renowned Olympic, world and European champion in swimming. Daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother, she specializes in freestyle and backstroke.
The first major international event that Laure participated in was the Athens Olympics 2004. She returned home with the first gold medal won by the French (and the first gold medal in swimming after Jean Boiteux in 2952) in a women’s swimming event, that
was more specifically the 400 metre freestyle meet at the Olympics. She also holds the world record in the 400 metre short course freestyle event which has not yet been surpassed by any swimmer so far.
However, her world record in the long course of the same event has been tied. Laure then went on to win the silver medal in the 800 metre freestyle event at the Athens Olympics. She was held off by the Japanese athlete Ai Shibata. Yet again though, the French
swimmer won the bronze medal in the women’s 100 metre backstroke event. This victory made her the second athlete from France to have won three gold medals in the Olympic Games (Summer or Winter), the first one being the field and track athlete Micheline Ostermeyer
in 1984. The French swim squad for the 4 into 100 metre freestyle relay in the Athens Olympics could not bag any medal for the country since Laure was the only good swimmer on the team.
After winning three medals at the 2004 Summer Olympics, the freestyle specialist went on to participate in the 2004 European Swimming Championships that took place in Madrid, Spain. She made her fans proud by winning three gold medals in the 100 metre backstroke,
400 metre freestyle and 4 into 100 metre team medley events.
The year that followed, Laure then swam at the 2005 World Swimming Championships that kicked off in Montreal Canada. She won gold in the women’s 400 metre freestyle meet. This was another competitive encounter for Laure and her Japanese compatriot Shibata.
However, Laure was successful in surpassing the world record set in the 400 metre freestyle event by Janet Evans at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She finished the race in a time of 4 minutes and 3.03 seconds.
Next, she contended the 2006 European Swimming Championships that took place at Budapest. She went on to break her own world record in the 400 metre freestyle by finishing the race in a time of 4 minutes and 02.13 seconds. The other events that she won at
the Championships were the 800 metre freestyle (gold), 200 metre individual medley (gold), 100 metre backstroke (gold), 200 metre freestyle (bronze), 4 into 200 metre freestyle (gold) and the 4 into 100 metre team medley (bronze).
At the 2007 World Swimming Championships, Laure set a new 200 metre freestyle world record. The championships were held in Melbourne where Laure elevated her medal tally by also winning the 400 metre freestyle meet, clinched a silver medal in the 100 metre
backstroke and 800 metre freestyle events. She went on to win the bronze medal in the 4 into 200 metre freestyle relay. She was held off by the American swimmer Kate Ziegler in the 800 metre freestyle events, Laure being in the lead at the beginning of the
race.
After bringing home three medals from the 2004 Summer Olympics, Laure’s fans were expecting the same brilliant performance by her at the 2008 Olympics. However, to their disappointment, she finished the 400 metre freestyle event in a time of 4 minutes and
11.26 seconds and settled in the last spot. She then finished the 100 metre backstroke semi final heat in the seventh place and the 200 metre backstroke heat in the last spot and so was eliminated from the Olympics.
Laure Manaudou’s retirement was announced in the newspaper Le Parisien on the 17th of September 2009, at the age of 22.
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