Roger Bambuck (born 22 November 1945 in Pointe-a-Pitre,

Guadeloupe Guadeloupe is an Overseas departments and regions of France, overseas department and region of France in the Caribbean. It consists of six inhabited islands—Basse-Terre Island, Basse-Terre, Grande-Terre, Guadeloupe, Grande-Terre, Marie-Galant ...

) is a French former sprinter and politician.

Athletic career

Bambuck took part in his first Olympic Games in Tokyo in 1964. At the 1966 European Championships in

Budapest Budapest is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns of Hungary, most populous city of Hungary. It is the List of cities in the European Union by population within city limits, tenth-largest city in the European Union by popul ...

, he won the gold medal in the 200 m and in the 4 × 100 m relay, as well as the silver medal in the 100 m. He competed in the

1968 Summer Olympics The 1968 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Mexico 1968 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 12 to 27 October 1968, in Mexico City, Mexico. These were the first Ol ...

held in

Mexico City Mexico City is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Mexico, largest city of Mexico, as well as the List of North American cities by population, most populous city in North America. It is one of the most important cultural and finan ...

in the 100 metres (finalist) and in the 4 × 100 metre relay where he won the bronze medal with his teammates Gérard Fenouil,

Jocelyn Delecour Jocelyn Delecour (born 2 January 1935) is a retired French sprinter. He competed in various sprint events at the 1956, 1960, 1964 and 1968 Olympics and won a bronze medal in 1964 in the 4 × 100 metre relay, together with Paul Genevay, Bernard ...

and

Claude Piquemal Claude Piquemal (born 13 March 1939 in Siguer Siguer (; ) is a commune in the Ariège department in southwestern France. Population Inhabitants of Siguer are called ''Siguerois'' in French. See also *Communes of the Ari� ...

. In the 100 and 200 m. individual men's final he finished fifth with times of 10.16 and 20.51 seconds respectively. Earlier in 1968 he had equalled

Armin Hary Armin Hary (; (born 22 March 1937) is a retired German sprinter who won the 1960 Olympic 100 meters dash. He was the first non-American to win the event since Percy Williams of Canada took the gold medal in 1928, the only German to ever win t ...

's eight-year-old European record of 10.0 seconds. He retired from sprint after the Mexico games, aged 23.

Political life

In the mid-eighties, he became head of sport for the commune of

Épinay-sur-Seine Épinay-sur-Seine (, literally ''Épinay on Seine'') is a commune in the Seine-Saint-Denis department, in the northern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the center of Paris. The church of Notre-Dame-des-Missions-du-cygne d'Enghien, ...

. From 1988 to 1991, he was minister of Youth and Sports under

Michel Rocard Michel Rocard (; 23 August 1930 – 2 July 2016) was a French politician and a member of the Socialist Party (France), Socialist Party (PS). He served as Prime Minister of France, Prime Minister under François Mitterrand from 1988 to 199 ...

. He then held senior positions in the civil service. He is an active

freemason Freemasonry (sometimes spelled Free-Masonry) consists of fraternal groups that trace their origins to the medieval guilds of stonemasons. Freemasonry is the oldest secular fraternity in the world and among the oldest still-existing organizati ...

Personal life

Bambuck set out to study medicine but dropped out. He then worked a time for the automobile manufacturer

Renault Renault S.A., commonly referred to as Groupe Renault ( , , , also known as the Renault Group in English), is a French Multinational corporation, multinational Automotive industry, automobile manufacturer established in 1899. The company curr ...

, before his athletic career. Bambuck has been married to former track and field athlete Ghislaine Barnay since 1974. He had the honour of starting the 24-hour Le Mans race.Le Mans.org
accessed 12 December 2007

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Bambuck, Roger 1945 births Athletes (track and field) at the 1964 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1968 Summer Olympics Guadeloupean male sprinters French male sprinters Olympic athletes for France Olympic bronze medalists for France Living people French people of Guadeloupean descent European Athletics Championships medalists French Freemasons Medalists at the 1968 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) People from Pointe-à-Pitre French Athletics Championships winners 20th-century French sportsmen