Florian Rousseau (born 3 February 1974) is a former

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track cyclist Track cycling is a bicycle racing sport usually held on specially built banked tracks or velodromes using purpose-designed track bicycles. History Track cycling has been around since at least 1870. When track cycling was in its infancy, it wa ...

who won three gold medals and one silver at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

(1996 and 2000). He was popular among spectators for the facial expressions he pulled - many of them seeming to make his eyes bulge - to help him concentrate at the start of races. In retirement he became one of France's national sprint coaches.

Youth

Rousseau spent much of his childhood and went to school in Patay. He began as a soccer player but, seeing no future in team sports, switched to cycling. He showed early talent on the track and joined the national sports institute, INSEP, in western Paris in 1990. He won the world junior kilometre championship in 1992 and the world senior championship in 1993 and 1994.

Career

Florian Rousseau's win in the 1996 Olympic Games in

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, United States, started a golden period for French track cycling that lasted four years. He won the kilometre at Atlanta but dropped the discipline to become a sprinter. He was trained by Gérard Quintyn and won the world sprint championship in 1996 to 1998. He won three Olympic gold medals and a silver. He was world team sprint champion in 1997 and 1998 and won the national sprint championship 17 times.

Management

Florian Rousseau was the national sprint coach at

INSEP INSEP, the National Institute of Sport, Expertise, and Performance (Institut national du sport, de l'expertise et de la performance), is a French sport boarding school, training institute and center that trains elite athletes. It is located on the ...

, in western

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

. He resigned shortly after the 2013 Cycling World Championships in Minsk Rousseau was appointed as the inaugural president of the UCI Athletes' Commission in 2011.

Outside cycling

Rousseau is married to Sonia, and a scuba-diver in his spare time, particularly in the Caribbean and off Australia.

Major results

;1992 :1st Kilo,

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

- Junior :3rd Sprint,

French National Track Championships The French National Track Championships are held annually and are composed of competitions of various track cycling disciplines across various age and gender categories. Men Senior Team sprint Team pursuit Madison Junior Team Pursuit M ...

- Junior ;1993 :1st Kilo,

:1st Kilo,

;1994 :1st Kilo,

:1st Kilo,

UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics The UCI Track Cycling World Cup (formerly known as the UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics) was a multi race tournament held over a track cycling season - usually between October and February. Each series is divided into several rounds, each held ...

champion ;1995 :2nd Kilo,

:2nd Sprint,

:1st Kilo,

:1st Sprint,

;1996 :1st Kilo, Olympic Games :1st Sprint,

:3rd world team sprint championship :1st Kilo, Sprint,

:1st Sprint,

;1997 :1st Sprint,

:1st Team sprint,

:1st Sprint,

;1998 :1st Sprint,

:1st Team sprint,

:1st Sprint,

:1st Keirin,

;1999 :1st Team sprint,

:3rd Sprint,

;2000 :1st Keirin, Olympic Games :1st Team sprint, Olympic Games :2nd Sprint, Olympic Games :1st Team sprint,

:1st Sprint,

;2001 :1st Team sprint,

:3rd Sprint,

:2nd Sprint,

:3rd Keirin,

;2002 :3rd Sprint,

:3rd Sprint,

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Rousseau, Florian 1974 births Living people French male cyclists French cycling coaches Cyclists at the 1996 Summer Olympics Cyclists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Olympic cyclists for France Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic silver medalists for France Olympic gold medalists in cycling Sportspeople from Nogent-sur-Marne Cyclists from Val-de-Marne UCI Track Cycling World Champions (men) Sportspeople from Orléans Cyclists from Loiret Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1996 Summer Olympics French track cyclists Olympic silver medalists in cycling 20th-century French sportsmen