The Terrors of the Pools

Laure Manaudou and her brother Florent became known to the general public for their exceptional performances in swimming. What is happening today to the two terrors of the basins? Before discovering it in pictures, here is a reminder of their swimming prowess.

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A family of athletes

Laure and Florent’s father was a handball player and coach, while their mother of Dutch origin practiced badminton. Nicolas, the older brother (on the right in the photo), is himself a former swimmer. He coached his sister for a year from 2007 to 2008.

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Spotted by Philippe Lucas

Laure Manaudou was spotted very young by Philippe Lucas, who will be her trainer during her first successes. Highly publicized, the relationship between the coach and the sportswoman made them known to the general public until Laure Manaudou decided to change coach in 2007.

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A precocious swimmer

Laure Manaudou practiced the medley and won her first medals at the French swimming championships in Saint-Étienne in 2003. In 2004, aged only seventeen, she won three gold medals at the European championships in Madrid .

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The Olympic consecration

At the Athens Olympics which took place the same year, the new queen of French swimming won three medals, including a gold in the 400 meter freestyle. France won its first gold medal in swimming since the Helsinki Games in 1952.

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The record and record

Laure Manaudou won nine titles at the 2006 French championships in Tours. The same year, she twice broke the world record for the 400-meter freestyle on a long course, which had been held by the American Janet Evans since the Seoul Olympics in 1988.

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A sportswoman in sight

The swimming champion obtained the General Grand Prize from the Sports Academy in 2006. In March 2007, businessman François Pinault decided to finance her career for the next five years.

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Nothing went as planned

But the year 2007 marked a break in her swimming career. Laure Manaudou leaves Philippe Lucas to join her companion Luca Marin in Italy. If she explains that she wants to change training to continue to progress, Lucas declares in the press that her former protege “flees from work”. Laure Manaudou is having difficulty training in Italy and injures her left foot.

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Back in France

The Italian soap opera with many adventures ends with a return to France at the end of 2007, in the Lyon region where the swimmer is from. After good performances at the French championships, she is trained by her brother Nicolas in preparation for the Beijing Olympics.

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The end of a brilliant career

Despite good performances in the previous months, the Beijing Games are those of disillusionment for Laure Manaudou. The beginning of the end of her career: following a first retirement from sport in 2009, she returned to competition for the London Olympics, before announcing her final retirement in early 2013.

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In the footsteps of his sister

It was when his big sister retired that Florent Manaudou, born in 1990, came to the fore of the sporting scene. While he practiced handball and swimming, his parents decided that he should devote himself solely to the latter sport. The training of his brother Nicolas allowed him to reach the highest level.

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Gold Medalist in London

At the 2012 London Olympics, Florent surprisingly won the gold medal in the 50-meter freestyle at just 21 years old. He becomes the sixth French Olympic swimming champion in an individual event.

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Many records

In 2014, Florent Manaudou became the most successful French swimmer at the world swimming championships, with six medals won in Doha. He broke two world records (50m freestyle and 50m backstroke) and became the fastest man in the world to swim.

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Back to handball

After winning two silver medals at the Rio Games in 2016, the athlete put his swimming career on hold to devote himself to handball, his childhood dream. He took part in his first pro matches with the Aix-en-Provence club in 2018 before returning to swimming the following year.

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Medal once more in Tokyo

Last summer, Florent Manaudou won the silver medal in the 50 meter freestyle at the Tokyo Olympics, behind American star Caeleb Dressel. While 2022 must be a year of transition in his career following a change of coach, will Florent wear the colors of France at the Paris Games in 2024?

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Turned into a consultant

Since retiring from sport, Florent’s big sister has converted on her side as a consultant for France Télévisions. She commented on the 2015 world championships with Nelson Monfort and his former coach Philippe Lucas, then the European championships and the Olympic Games the following year, before being replaced in 2017 by… her little brother!

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His own story

In 2008, Laure Manaudou played her own role in Olivier Doran’s film “Le Coach”, the story of a sports trainer who accumulates success but who is awash in debt. The former swimmer also wrote her autobiography, “Between the lines”, published in 2014.

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A page of sports history

Laure Manaudou has also participated in several reality TV shows, including “Celebrity Hunted” with Florent in 2021. But history will remember above all her incredible records and the 127 medals she won, including 86 gold medals.

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The adventure goes on

His little brother, he has not finished his sports career. Between their extraordinary performances, their careers full of twists and their media presence, the brother and sister are among the most prominent French sportsmen of recent years!

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