Roger Rochard
![]() Roger Rochard in 1931 | ||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||
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Nationality | French | |||||||||||
Born | (1913-04-20)20 April 1913 Évreux, France | |||||||||||
Died | 24 February 1993(1993-02-24) (aged 79)[1] | |||||||||||
Height | 1.71 m (5 ft 7 in) | |||||||||||
Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) | |||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||
Event | 5000 metres | |||||||||||
Club | Évreux AC | |||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||
Personal best | 5000 m – 14:36.8 (1934)[2][3] | |||||||||||
Medal record
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Roger Rochard (20 April 1913 – 24 February 1993) was a French long-distance runner. He was the first French track and field athlete to become a European champion, winning the 5000 metres race at the 1934 European Athletics Championships in Turin, Italy.
Career
As an 18-year-old, Rochard surprisingly won the 5000 m in the 1931 national dual meet between France and Britain, running 15:11.8.[4] Later that summer, he also won in a dual meet against Germany, this time running 15:03.6.[5] His best time that year was 15:01.6, which he ran in Paris on 25 October,[3] but in that race he was defeated by Poland's Janusz Kusociński, who went on to win Olympic gold at 10,000 metres.[6]
In 1932 Rochard broke 15 minutes for the first time, running 14:56.8;[3][7] he was selected for the Olympic Games in Los Angeles, where he qualified for the final but did not finish it.[2] In 1933 Rochard improved to 14:46.5 in a dual meet against Finland, only narrowly losing to Finland's Olympic medalist Lasse Virtanen.[7]
At the 1934 European Championships in Turin Rochard was up against Kusociński, Virtanen and Ilmari Salminen, but outkicked them all and won gold by a clear 4.4 second margin.[7][8] His winning time, 14:36.8, was his personal best; he only missed out on the French record, set by Jean Bouin in his duel against Hannes Kolehmainen at the 1912 Summer Olympics, by one-tenth of a second.[7] Rochard was the first French athlete to win gold at the European Athletics Championships,[9] and the only one to do so in the inaugural 1934 meet.[10]
Rochard returned to the Olympics in Berlin in 1936; he again took part in the 5000 m, but was eliminated in the heats.[2] He attempted to defend his European title at the 1938 Championships in Paris, but only placed eighth.[10]
References
- ^ Dupuy, Gérard (20 May 2017). "Les Jeux Olympiques" (PDF). French Athletics Federation. Retrieved 17 August 2017.
- ^ a b c Roger Rochard. sports-reference.com
- ^ a b c "Roger Rochard". Track and Field Statistics. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ "Inglise-Prantsuse kergejõustiku maavõistlus 67:53". Eesti Spordileht (in Estonian). 14 August 1931. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ "Saksa võitis Prantsuse 89:62". Eesti Spordileht (in Estonian). 8 September 1931. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ "Kusocinsky võit Pariisis". Eesti Spordileht (in Estonian). 10 November 1931. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ a b c d Jukola, Martti (1935). Huippu-urheilun historia (in Finnish). Werner Söderström Osakeyhtiö.
- ^ "Osa 1, Torino 1934: Järvisestä historiallinen mestari" (in Finnish). Yleisurheilun Kuvalehti. Archived from the original on 17 December 2014. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ Dupuy, Gérard (12 August 2014). "Zurich 2014... et avant ?" (in French). Commission de la Documentation et de l'Histoire. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- ^ a b Jalava, Mirko (2014). "European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014: Statistics Handbook" (PDF). European Athletics. Retrieved 27 December 2014.
- v
- t
- e
- 1934:
Roger Rochard (FRA)
- 1938:
Taisto Mäki (FIN)
- 1946:
Sydney Wooderson (GBR)
- 1950:
Emil Zátopek (TCH)
- 1954:
Vladimir Kuts (URS)
- 1958:
Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak (POL)
- 1962:
Bruce Tulloh (GBR)
- 1966:
Michel Jazy (FRA)
- 1969:
Ian Stewart (GBR)
- 1971:
Juha Väätäinen (FIN)
- 1974:
Brendan Foster (GBR)
- 1978:
Venanzio Ortis (ITA)
- 1982:
Thomas Wessinghage (FRG)
- 1986:
Jack Buckner (GBR)
- 1990:
Salvatore Antibo (ITA)
- 1994:
Dieter Baumann (GER)
- 1998:
Isaac Viciosa (ESP)
- 2002:
Alberto García (ESP)
- 2006:
Jesús España (ESP)
- 2010:
Mo Farah (GBR)
- 2012:
Mo Farah (GBR)
- 2014:
Mo Farah (GBR)
- 2016:
Ilias Fifa (ESP)
- 2018:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)
- 2022:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)
- 2024:
Jakob Ingebrigtsen (NOR)