Michel Jazy, figure of French athletics, died at the age of 87

Star of French athletics in the 1960s, half-distance runner Michel Jazy died at the age of 87, announced Thursday 1^is February, the French Athletics Federation, confirming information from the newspaperTeam.

Double European champion, Olympic vice-champion over 1,500 meters in 1960, Michel Jazy held nine world records in the middle distance during his career, and his exploits aroused immense popular enthusiasm. A star of French sport at the time, alongside cyclist Jacques Anquetil, he shone from the 800 to 5,000 meters.

Born in 1936 in Pas-de-Calais, into a family of Polish miners, Michel Jazy obtained French nationality at the age of 18 before participating in his first Olympic Games at the age of 20, in 1956. At a time when the championships of world of athletics did not yet exist, he then won everything except the Olympic title, failing in the 2^e place over 1,500 m in 1960, then at the foot of the podium over 5,000 meters in 1964.

“I am devastated”told Agence-France-Presse (AFP), the president of the French Athletics Federation, André Giraud. “For the world of athletics and for the FFA, it is a huge loss, for everything it represented, especially in this year of the Olympic Games in Paris”he added.

« [Michel] Jazy left his mark on our sport with his results and his world records, he was a great figure in French sport”reacted to AFP Pierre Weiss, former director of the FFA and close friend of the family. ” With [le patineur artistique] Alain Calmat, he moved the crowds into the bistros, where there were TV screens, it was something”he added.