Laure Manaudou

About Laure Manaudou

Laure Manaudou (born October 9, 1986 in Villeurbanne) is a French Olympic, World and European champion swimmer. She is the daughter of a French father and a Dutch mother.

Manaudou currently holds the world records for the 400 m freestyle (Short Course) and 200 m freestyle (Long Course).

She won the gold medal in the women's 400 m freestyle at the 2004 Athens Olympics. It was France's first ever gold medal in women's swimming and the first swimming gold medal won by a French man or woman since Jean Boiteux's triumph in the 400 m men's freestyle event in Helsinki in 1952. Manaudou won the silver medal in the women's 800 m freestyle at the same Olympics. In that race, she had a quick start but was passed down the stretch by Ai Shibata from Japan. She took the bronze medal at the women's 100 m backstroke, becoming only the second Frenchwoman to win three medals in a single Summer or Winter Olympic Games. The first was track and field athlete Micheline Ostermeyer in London in 1948.