Jérémy Stravius (born 14 July 1988) is a French

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 ...

, swimming freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly.

Career

Stravius appeared on the world stage at the

2009 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 2009 European Short Course Swimming Championships was held in Istanbul, Turkey, from Thursday 10 to Sunday 13 December 2009. A temporary swimming pool was built within the Abdi İpekçi Arena. The event was held over four days with: heats, ...

Istanbul Istanbul is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, constituting the country's economic, cultural, and historical heart. With Demographics of Istanbul, a population over , it is home to 18% of the Demographics ...

where he was part of the winning 4 × 50 m freestyle relay and finished in the top 8 in the 50 m breaststroke. The next year at the

2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships The 2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships was held 25–28 November 2010 at Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet featured competition amongst national teams from Europe, in 38 Short course (swimmi ...

Hungary Hungary is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning much of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia and ...

, Stravius won his first medal at an international meet, winning a silver in the 100 m backstroke. At this meet, he also was part of the winning 4 × 100 m medley relay and the bronze medal winning team of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Stravius won his first international gold winning the gold medal in the 100 m backstroke at the 2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai. He shared it with countryman

Camille Lacourt Camille Lacourt (; born 22 April 1985) is a retired French competitive swimming (sport), swimmer and backstroke specialist. He won the 50 metre backstroke at three consecutive FINA World Aquatics Championships, world championships (2013 World Aq ...

. He also received a silver in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at this meet. Kazan 2015 - Stravius Heats 50m backstroke

Stravius got third at the French Olympic Trials in the 100 m backstroke, just missing out on a chance to swim an individual event at the Olympics. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

he won two medals, competing on the gold medal-winning 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and silver medal-winning 4 × 200 m freestyle relay teams for France, but only swimming the heats. On 28 July 2013, at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Stravius was part of the winning 4 × 100 m medley relay where he swam the butterfly leg. Stravius was in the anchor position for France in the 4 × 100 m men's freestyle final. The French were the defending Olympic champions but were seeded outside the middle lanes in the final, causing Stravius to remark "On n'était pas favoris, c'est un hold up". In the final, after 200 m where France was far off from the leading three teams,

Fabien Gilot Fabien Pierre Aurélien Dominique Gilot (born 27 April 1984) is a French Olympic and world champion swimmer. Early life Gilot was born in Denain, France, to Michel and Yveline Gilot. He started by playing water polo, before switching to swimmi ...

exploded through with a 46.90s third leg to bring the French back into contention. Then, Stravius took over the Australians at the start of his leg and trailing the Russians and American swimmers at the midpoint of his anchor leg, Stravius snapped a precise flipturn and, after several powerful dolphin kicks underwater, emerged ahead by a hand, eventually securing the gold medal for France by 0.26s. He also won silver medals in the 50 m backstroke and the 100 m backstroke. At this meet he also swam the 200 m individual medley and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. At the

2014 European Aquatics Championships The 2014 European Aquatics Championships took place from 13 to 24 August 2014 in Berlin, Germany. It was the 31st edition of the championships, and was held in a temporary facility placed in the centre of the Berlin Velodrome. Great Britain head ...

in Berlin, Stravius earned two silver medals, one of them in the 50 m backstroke and the other in the 100 m backstroke. He also won a gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.

Personal life

He is openly gay and was among the six French LGBT athletes featured in the documentary ''We Need to Talk''.

References

External links

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Stravius, Jeremy Living people 1988 births Sportspeople from Abbeville French male backstroke swimmers French male freestyle swimmers French male medley swimmers Olympic gold medalists for France Olympic silver medalists for France World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Olympic swimmers for France Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m) European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics French male butterfly swimmers European champions for France Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in swimming Olympic silver medalists in swimming Mediterranean Games silver medalists for France Swimmers at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming French gay sportsmen LGBTQ swimmers 20th-century French LGBTQ people 21st-century French LGBTQ people Military World Games silver medalists for France Military World Games medalists in swimming 21st-century French sportsmen