Jérémie Azou (born 2 April 1989) is a French former

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is di ...

. He is an Olympic, World, and European champion in the men's

lightweight Lightweight is a weight class in combat sports and rowing. Boxing Professional boxing The lightweight division is over 130 pounds (59 kilograms) and up to 135 pounds (61.2 kilograms) weight class in the sport of boxing. Notable lightweight b ...

double scull A double scull is a rowing boat used in the sport of competitive rowing. It is designed for two persons who propel the boat by sculling with two oars each, one in each hand. Racing boats (often called "shells") are long, narrow, and broadly ...

Career

He was part of the French men's lightweight quadruple sculls team who won silver at the 2008 World Championships, with Pierre-Etienne Pollez,

Fabrice Moreau Fabrice Moreau (born 7 October 1967 in Paris) is a French-Cameroonian former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Played in 17 different clubs before retiring at 36, in 2004. Born from a French father and a Cameroonian mother, h ...

and Remi Di Girolamo. In 2009, he won silver at the

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, ...

in the men's lightweight double sculls with Frederic Dufour. In 2010, he teamed with Di Girolamo to win bronze at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

. At the 2011 World Under 23 championships, he competed in the lightweight men's single sculls, winning the gold medal. In 2012, he began to team with

Stany Delayre Stany Delayre (born 26 October 1987 in Bergerac) is a French rower. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed with Jérémie Azou in the men's lightweight double sculls, finishing in 4th place. On home water, he and Azou won the 201 ...

. They finished in 4th in the lightweight double sculls at the 2012 Summer Olympics. An injury to Delayre meant that Azou competed in the lightweight single sculls at the 2013 World Championship, where he won the silver medal. Their team won the European Championships in

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment ...

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

and

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the April ...

and the

in 2015. They also won a World silver medal in

. The time of 06:11.38 Azou and Delayre set at the 2015 European Championships is still the fastest time at a European championships. They also hold the fastest time at a World Cup. In 2015, Azou and Delayre won the World Rowing Male Crew of the Year Award. He teamed with

Pierre Houin Pierre Houin (born 15 April 1994) is a French rower. He won the gold medal in the lightweight sculls at the 2015 European Championships, 2015 World Championships and 2016 Olympics. Houin took up rowing aged 11 at l'Union Sportive de Toul follow ...

from 2016, winning Olympic gold at the

Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro d ...

, and then the 2017 World Championship title. He was undefeated in the men's lightweight double sculls from 2015 to October 2017. He retired in October 2017, announcing his retirement at a celebration of the renaming of the Avignon Rowing Club to Avignon Rowing Club: Base Nautique Jeremie Azou.

Personal life

Azou originally swam as a hobby before taking up rowing at 12. He is a trained physiotherapist.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Azou, Jeremie 1989 births Living people French male rowers Sportspeople from Avignon Rowers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Rowers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic rowers of France World Rowing Championships medalists for France Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic medalists in rowing Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics 21st-century French people