Pierre Quinon

Pierre Quinon

Personal information
Full name	Pierre Jean Guy Quinon
Nationality	French
Born	(1962-02-20)20 February 1962 Lyon, France
Died	17 August 2011(2011-08-17) (aged 49) Hyères, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
Sport	pole vault
Club	Racing Club de France
Medal record Men’s athletics Representing France Olympic Games 1984 Los Angeles Pole vault

Pierre Quinon (February 20, 1962 in Lyon – August 17, 2011 in Hyères) was a pole vaulter from France who won the 1984 Olympic Games pole vault gold medal.

Pole vaulting career

Pierre Quinon, whose father was a 800 metres [[running|runner], made his pole vaulting debut in 1976 at the age of 14 in the town of Le Péage-de-Roussillon (in the department of Isère). He become the French national junior champion in 1979. He burst onto the scene at the national level in 1981 thanks to a clearance of 5.50 metres.

On August 28, 1983 in the German city of Cologne, Quinon set a new outdoor world record of 5.82 metres, beating Vladimir Polyakov's 26-month old outdoor world record by one centimetre. That day, after winning the contest, Quinon became the first athlete to attempt to clear 6.00 metres in an official athletics meeting. Though he failed by a significant margin, "he didn't make a fool of himself," as his coach Jean-Claude Perrin said to the French media. Quinon's world record was short-lived. On September 1, 1983 in the Italian capital Rome, his countryman Thierry Vigneron beat it by one centimetre.

At the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles, in the absence of Sergey Bubka because of the Soviet-led boycott, Quinon, Vigneron and two Americans - Earl Bell and Mike Tully - were the favorites to win the pole vault title. All four of them had cleared 5.80m or higher prior to these Olympic Games. After Bell and Vigneron had missed three consecutive attempts at 5.70m, Quinon and Tully battled each other for the gold medal. Quinon was leading at 5.70m (he had cleared this height on his first attempt) and Tully was in second position at 5.65m when the bar was raised to 5.75m, with Quinon vaulting first. The Frenchman cleared the height on his first attempt. Although clearing this height would have put Tully in a tie for first place, he elected to pass. Neither man was successful at clearing 5.80m. Quinon thus won the gold medal with a height of 5.75m, becoming the first French men's Olympic pole vault champion. This was to be Quinon's only appearance at the Olympic Games. Tully won the silver medal (5.65m), with Vigneron and Bell each receiving a bronze medal (5.60m).

Quinon took the silver medal at the 1984 European Indoor Championships behind Vigneron. He also won three Championnats de France d'athlétisme (French Athletics Championships) outdoor pole vault titles in 1982, 1983 and 1984.

On July 16, 1985 at the Meeting Nikaïa de Nice in the French city of Nice, Quinon achieved his outdoor personal best of 5.90 metres, 10 centimetres behind the then-world record.

An ankle injury sustained in 1986 and other injuries sustained thereafter adversely affected Quinon's pole vault performance in the later years of his career. He never again pole-vaulted at the standard similar to that of the first half of the 1980s. He did not make the cut for the 1988 Olympics in Seoul.

In 1989, Quinon settled in Bordeaux. He became a member of a sports club there and was coached by Georges Martin. He lived in Bodeaux until his retirement from pole vaulting in 1993.

Later life

After his retirement, he settled in the Mediterranean city of Hyères in 1993 and would live there until his death. He went into business by running a chicken rotisserie business from a van based in Hyères. He took up painting in 2006. He worked in the preparations for the 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships to be held in Lyon, France.

Death

On Wenesday, August 17, 2011 at around 10pm, Quinon committed suicide by jumping headlong out of a window of his home in Hyères from a height of 5 metres. He had been suffering from depression. Quinon had two children, Robin and Jean-Baptiste, by his ex-wife, Caroline Large.

Funeral

Quinon's funeral took place in front of the town hall and in the Saint-Trophyme church of the town of Bormes-les-Mimosas in the department of Var on August 23, 2011. It was attended by more than 200 persons, among them his children, ex-wife, sister, mother and notable, retired French athletes like Stéphane Diagana, Maryse Éwanjé-Épée, Thierry Vigneron, Christian Plaziat and William Motti. French President Nicolas Sarkozy had a wreath of flowers delivered to the funeral. The French Sports Minister Chantal Jouanno sent a message of condolence that was read by a representative. A very moved Stéphane Diagana, read a message from the 1996 Olympic Games pole vault gold medallist Jean Galfione. In his message, Galfione expressed his admiration of his "hero" of whom he had a poster in his bedroom. Quinon was then buried in the cemetery of Bormes-les-Mimosas in the presence of only family members.

Results in international competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Result	Notes
1984	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	2nd	5.75 m
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	1st	5.75 m

See also

• French all-time top lists - Pole vault

External links

• Pierre Quinon at World Athletics
• Pierre Quinon at Sports Reference