10 Parisian sportsmen and women who left their mark on the capital

Georges Carpentier was a French boxing legend. He was the first French professional boxer to be crowned world champion. Born in Liévin (Nord), he showed an early aptitude for combat sports, starting with French boxing: on December 4th, 1906, he fought his first official bout at the age of twelve. In 1908, he became world amateur boxing champion.

That same year, he made his (western) boxing debut. A rich and successful career began, interrupted only by the First World War, during which Georges Carpentier distinguished himself in the air force. He won his first major title in Paris on June 15th 1911, becoming French welterweight champion at just 17 years of age, beating reigning champion Robert Eustache at the Cirque de Paris.

The post-war years marked the peak of his boxing career. On October 12th, 1920, he fought American champion Battling Levinsky in Jersey City, USA, for the world light-heavyweight title. In front of 20,000 spectators, the Frenchman, nicknamed The Orchid Man, triumphed. He died in Paris in 1975.

A major sports center with a gymnasium and soccer, rugby and athletics fields bears his name in the 13th arrondissement.

Jacqueline Auriol was the first woman aviator in Europe to break the sound barrier. Born in Vendée in 1917, she died in Paris in 2000 after a long career in aviation, which began in 1948.

Nothing had destined this young interior decorator, daughter-in-law of President Vincent Auriol, for such a career. Despite a serious accident in 1949, she recovered from 124 fractures and went on to break a lot of records in the following years. In the end, she logged over 5,000 flying hours, including 2,000 in test flights, and piloted more than 140 planes and helicopters of all types: Mystère II and IV, Super-Mystère B-2, Mirage III, Vautour, Breguet Alizé, Gerfaut II, Caravelle… A swimming pool in the 8th arrondissement now bears her name.

Before the Second World War, swimmer Jean Taris was considered an international benchmark in his discipline. He made his debut in 1926 with the Sporting Club Universitaire de France (SCUF), a French omnisports club based in Paris. He contributed to the development of alternative swimming (alternating right and left breathing in cycles of three strokes) and was French national champion 34 times! Jean Taris also took part in three Olympic Games, in 1928, 1932 and 1936. He retired in 1936 after a breathtaking career: 8 world records over 5 distances, 9 in Europe, 49 in France, not forgetting, of course, his national and European titles. A swimming pool in the 5th arrondissement honors his memory.

French champion and record-holder in the 100m freestyle from 1911 to 1919, he took part in the 1912 Olympic Games. Georges Rigal was the first French swimmer to adopt the crawl style. His greatest successes came in water polo. With the French team, he became Olympic champion in 1924. He also won four French championship titles with his club, La Libellule de Paris. A swimming pool in the 11th arrondissement pays tribute to him.

Weightlifter, racing driver and wrestler: Charles Rigoulot was a jack-of-all-trades. He began his sporting career in athletics as a 100m runner. He went on to win the Olympic gold medal in light-heavyweight weightlifting at the 1924 Paris Olympic Games. He was nicknamed "the strongest man in the world" after his 1925 victory over his compatriot Ernest Cadine, Olympic weightlifting champion in the light-heavyweight category, at the Cirque d'Hiver. After a serious injury, he ended his weightlifting career to devote himself to wrestling and motor racing.

Charles Rigoulot was also a showman. He was in turn a singer, theater and film actor. He died on August 22nd, 1962. On April 28th, 1964, the Paris City Council named the gymnasium and stadium at Porte Brancion (14th arrondissement) after him.

Born in 1886 in Arras (Pas-de-Calais), Lucien Gaudin grew up in Paris, where he attended the Lycée Carnot (17th arrondissement). His father, a military fencer, introduced him to fencing. He was the first Frenchman, before foil fencer Christian d'Oriola and biathlete Martin Fourcade, to win four Olympic gold medals. At the 1924 Games, he triumphed in team epee and foil. Then, at the 1928 Amsterdam Games, he won his first individual Olympic medals in epee and foil. Quite a feat, given that he was 42 years old!

In her 15-year career, the woman nicknamed the La Divine won 241 titles, including 13 major singles titles. She remained virtually unbeaten, winning 341 of her 348 matches! Having already won the French Championships from 1920 to 1923, the international tennis star went on to win the first edition of the Internationaux de France.

After becoming the first professional tennis player in history, she retired from the courts in 1928 to become a sports fashion designer. She also gave her name to several sporting arenas, most notably court A at Roland Garros in 1997. Suzanne Lenglen was also a trailblazer for women: shaking up the convention of the time, she wore colorful outfits and make-up.

Decathlon, pentathlon, 110 m hurdles, high jump, long jump, rugby: Georges André (better known by his nickname Géo André) had a well earned his nickname: l'homme complet (the complete man). Born in Paris, he was a member of Stade Français Rugby club from 1906 to 1908, then the Racing Club de France from 1909 to 1927, where he excelled in the athletics and rugby union sections. At the 1912 Olympic Games, he took part in 6 events (decathlon, pentathlon, high jump, standing high jump, standing long jump, 110 m hurdles). At the 1924 Paris Games, he took the Olympic oath, and was also flag-bearer for the French delegation at the 1919 Inter-Allied Games. Twelve times French champion, he took part in four Olympic Games and won the silver medal in the Olympic high jump in 1908.

Born into a Jewish family in Constantine (French Algeria), Alfred Nakache moved to Paris in the summer of 1933. That was the year he took part in his first French swimming championships. During his prolific swimming career, he won no fewer than 21 French championship titles. When Marshal Pétain abolished the Crémieux decree in 1940 (granting French citizenship to Algerian Jews), Alfred Nakache, as an Algerian Jew, was stripped of his French nationality. With his wife - a sports teacher like himself - and daughter, they had to move to Toulouse in the free zone to continue working.

Initially well regarded during the Occupation thanks to his records (5 French champion titles won in 1942), he was gradually put under more and more pressure from the collaborationist and antisemitic press. Arrested by the Gestapo in November 1943, he was interned in the Drancy camp, then deported with his family to Auschwitz-Birkenau. He was the only member of his family to survive, returning from the extermination camp in 1945.

After the Second World War, he returned to the pool with great success, winning the French championship in 1946. In the 1948 London Olympics he participated in the 200m butterfly breaststroke event and as a member of the French water polo team. A swimming pool in the Belleville district (20th) honors his memory.

Yvonne Godard (1908-1975) was a champion swimmer and member of the Club des nageurs de Paris. She won gold in the 100-meter freestyle and bronze in the 400-meter freestyle at the 1931 European Swimming Championships. She was a member of the French delegation at the 1932 Olympic Games in Los Angeles (USA). She also won 7 French championship titles from 1929 to 1932. A swimming pool in the 20th arrondissement pays tribute to her since 2019.