Renaud Lavillenie

Renaud Lavillenie is a French pole vaulter, born on 18 September 1986 in Barbezieux-Saint-Hilaire, Charente, whose father was also a pole vaulter. He made his competition debut in 2003 at the age of 17. He won the gold medal at the 2012 Olympics in London, clearing 5.97 m for a new Olympic record, and the silver medal at the 2016 Olympics in Rio, where Thiago Braz da Silva beat him. Beyond the Games he has won three World Indoor Championships gold medals, three European Championships gold medals and four European Indoor Championships gold medals, along with one World Championships silver and four bronze. He holds French national records of 6.05 m outdoors and 6.16 m indoors, and the 6.16 m he cleared in Donetsk on 15 February 2014 stood as the absolute pole vault world record for over six years, until 2020. He was overall pole vault winner of the IAAF Diamond League for seven consecutive years, 2010 to 2016. Outside the sport he is a keen motorcyclist who raced the 2013 Le Mans 24 Hours for motorcycles, and his younger brother Valentin is also a pole vaulter.