Fabien Pierre Aurélien Dominique Gilot (born 27 April 1984) is a French Olympic and world champion

swimmer Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...

Early life

Gilot was born in Denain, France, to Michel and Yveline Gilot.Fabien Gilot Bio – SwimSwam
/ref> He started by playing

water polo Water polo is a competitive sport, competitive team sport played in water between two teams of seven players each. The game consists of four quarters in which the teams attempt to score goals by throwing the water polo ball, ball into the oppo ...

, before switching to swimming.SPORTEL Awards VIP – Fabien Gilot – Sportel Awards
/ref>

Career

He collected the large majority of his medals in freestyle and medley relay events, and is the only swimmer featured in all the medalled French relay teams since 2003. He has been part of the French swimming team since the world championship of 2003 in

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. In 2002, he became the European Junior Double Champion in the 100m freestyle, with a time of 50.47 seconds, and the 200m freestyle, with a time of 1.52.30 minutes, in Linz, Austria. In 2003 he won a bronze medal as a member of the French 400m freestyle relay team at the

World Aquatics Championships The World Aquatics Championships, formerly the FINA World Championships, are the World Championships for six aquatic disciplines: swimming, diving, high diving, open water swimming, artistic swimming, and water polo. The championships are st ...

in Barcelona. In 2004 he won a bronze medal in the same event at the

European Aquatics Championships The European Aquatics Championships is the continental Aquatic sports, Aquatics championship for Europe, which is organised by Ligue Européenne de Natation, LEN—the governing body for aquatics in Europe. The Championships are currently held eve ...

in Madrid. He swam for France at the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fr ...

, where he was part of France's

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

winning 4 × 100 m freestyle relay. That year he also won a gold medal in the 200m freestyle relay at the European Championships. In 2010, he won gold medals in the 200m freestyle relay at the

and the Short Course World Championships, a silver medal in the 100m freestyle at the Short Course World Championships in Dubai, and a bronze medal in 50m freestyle race at the European Championships in Budapest. In 2011 he won silver medals in the 400m freestyle relay and the 800m freestyle relay at the

in Shanghai. In the London 2012 Summer Olympics he again swam for France, and as part of France's team in the Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay, shared in the team's

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have b ...

. In his victory wave, Gilot revealed an underarm tattoo with three

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words אני כלום בלעדיהם meaning: "I am nothing without them", which he explained was a tribute to his maternal grandmother's Jewish German-born husband Max Goldschmidt, an

Auschwitz concentration camp Auschwitz, or Oświęcim, was a complex of over 40 Nazi concentration camps, concentration and extermination camps operated by Nazi Germany in Polish areas annexed by Nazi Germany, occupied Poland (in a portion annexed into Germany in 1939) d ...

Holocaust survivor Holocaust survivors are people who survived the Holocaust, defined as the persecution and attempted annihilation of the Jews by Nazi Germany and Collaboration with Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy, its collaborators before and during World War II ...

. Gilot said that this quote had a very special meaning for him, representing his family and three stars – one for each of his brothers, as well as for his Olympic appearances. He described Goldschmidt as "a grandfather in every way". Goldschmidt died in 2012, but was able to see his grandson's tattoo and his swimming achievements, although not his Olympic gold. Starting in 2013, Gilot became the team captain of the French swimming team, at European Championships (Berlin 2014), World (Kazan 2015), and at the Olympics (Rio de Janeiro 2016). In 2013 Gilot became a double World Champion as a member of France’s 4×100 meter freestyle (3:11.18) and medley (3:31.51) relays at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona. In 2014, he won a silver medal in the 100m freestyle at the European Championships in Berlin. In 2015, he again won a gold medal at the FINA World Championships in the 4×100 meter freestyle (3:10.74), in Kazan, while his team won a bronze medal in the 4×100m medley relay (3:30.50). In the 2016

Rio Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

, Gilot and his 2015 world champion teammates won the silver medal in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay (3:10.53). Gilot will take part in the torch lighting ceremony at the 2017 Maccabiah Games on 6 July 2017.">"Ervin, Gilot To Participate In Torch Lighting At Maccabiah Games,"
''SwimSwam''.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Gilot, Fabien 1984 births Living people People from Denain French male freestyle swimmers Olympic swimmers for France Swimmers at the 2004 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2008 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic silver medalists for France World record holders in swimming World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics European champions for France Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Swimmers from Nord (French department) 21st-century French sportsmen