Fabien Lefèvre (born 18 June 1982) is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 1998]. As a Permanent residence (United States), permanent resident of the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

, he has competed for his country of residence since 2013. He represented

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

until 2011. He won two medals at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques d'été), also known as the Games of the Olympiad, and often referred to as the Summer Olympics, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inau ...

in the K1 event with a silver in

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and a bronze in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

. He has a son called Noe Lefèvre. Lefèvre also won fourteen medals at the

ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships are an international event in canoeing organized by the International Canoe Federation. The World Championships have taken place every year in non- Summer Olympic years since 2002. From 1949 to 1999, they ...

with seven golds (C1:

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, K1:

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

; C2 team:

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

; K1 team:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2006 File:2006 Events Collage V1.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2006 Winter Olympics open in Turin; Twitter is founded and launched by Jack Dorsey; The Nintendo Wii is released; Montenegro 2006 Montenegrin independence referendum, votes to declare ...

), five silvers (C2: 2010, 2011; K1: 2005, K1 team: 2010, 2011), and two bronzes (K1 team: 2002, K1: 2011). He is the overall

World Cup A world cup is a global sporting competition in which the participant entities – usually international teams or individuals representing their countries – compete for the title of world champion. The event most associated with the concept i ...

champion in the K1 class from

. He also won two bronze medals at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in the K1 team event.

Career

Fabien Lefevre began kayaking at the age of 5. At the age of 20, he won the K1 event at the 2002 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships in

Bourg-Saint-Maurice Bourg-Saint-Maurice (; Arpitan: ''Bôrg-Sant-Mori'' or simply ''Le Bôrg''), popularly known as Bourg, is a commune in the Savoie department in the Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes region in Southeastern France. Located on the Italian border south of Cham ...

. He backed up this result by winning the 2002 World Cup title. One year later he was able to defend the K1 world title in

Augsburg Augsburg (; bar , Augschburg , links=https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swabian_German , label=Swabian German, , ) is a city in Swabia, Bavaria, Germany, around west of Bavarian capital Munich. It is a university town and regional seat of the ' ...

. These victories made him the favorite for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. However, he was only able to capture bronze after touching a gate in both semifinal and final run. He recorded the fastest running time but the 4 penalty seconds pushed him down to third. At the 2005 World Championships in

Penrith, New South Wales Penrith is a city in New South Wales, Australia, located in Greater Western Sydney, 55 kilometres (31 mi) west of the Sydney central business district on the banks of the Nepean River, on the outskirts of the Cumberland Plain. Its elevati ...

he won a silver medal in the K1 event, losing only to Fabian Dörfler. He won the K1 team title, however, together with

Benoît Peschier Benoît Pierre Peschier (born 21 May 1980 in Guilherand-Granges) is a French-Greek slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1997 to 2014. He represented Greece from 2009 to 2010. In 2013 he returned to the international scene ...

and

Julien Billaut Julien Billaut (born 26 November 1981) is a French slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 1998 to 2009. Billaut won four medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships The ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships are an ...

. He won the K1 team gold again in

, this time joined by

and

Boris Neveu Boris Neveu (born 12 April 1986) is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2004. Biography Neveu won 16 medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with five golds (K1: 2014, 2021; K1 team: 2006, 2014, ...

. He finished 5th in the individual event in 2006 in a race where two winners were declared by the ICF jury (

and

Stefano Cipressi Stefano Cipressi (born 25 November 1982) is an Italian slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2000. Cipressi is an athlete of the Gruppo Sportivo della Marina Militare, Biography He won a complete set of medals at the ...

). In 2007 a serious wrist injury prevented him from taking part at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Foz do Iguaçu Foz do Iguaçu (''Iguazu River Mouth'') () is the Brazilian city on the border of Iguaçu Falls. The city is the 7th largest in the state of Paraná. The city's population is approximately 258,000. It is approximately 650 km (400 mi) we ...

, won by his compatriot

Sébastien Combot Sébastien Combot (born 9 February 1987 in Landerneau) is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level since 2005. He won five medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with two golds (K1: 2007, K1 team: 2014) an ...

. He regained his place in the French team in 2008 and won the selection for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

by defeating the reigning Olympic champion

at the French trials. Lefèvre was third after the semifinal run and improved to silver medal position in the final.

Benjamin Boukpeti Benjamin Kudjow Thomas Boukpeti (born August 4, 1981 in Lagny-sur-Marne, France) is a French-born Togolese slalom canoeist who competed at the international level from 2003 to 2012. Competing in three Summer Olympics, he won a bronze in the K1 ...

, a friend of Lefèvre, won the first Olympic medal for

Togo Togo (), officially the Togolese Republic (french: République togolaise), is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Ghana to the west, Benin to the east and Burkina Faso to the north. It extends south to the Gulf of Guinea, where its c ...

with a bronze, while Alexander Grimm took gold. In late 2008, inspired by

Michael Phelps Michael Fred Phelps II (born June 30, 1985) is an American former competitive swimmer. He is the most successful and most decorated Olympian of all time with a total of 28 medals. Phelps also holds the all-time records for Olympic gold me ...

, he decided to take up the double canoe discipline (C2) together with

Denis Gargaud Chanut Denis Gargaud Chanut (born 22 July 1987) is a French slalom canoeist who has competed at the international level in C1 since 2004. Between 2009 and 2011 he also competed in the C2 category alongside Fabien Lefèvre. He won a gold medal in the C ...

, while continuing to race in single kayak (K1) with the ambition to appear in both categories at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Lefèvre failed to medal at the 2009 World Championships in

La Seu d'Urgell La Seu d'Urgell (; es, Seo de Urgel, formerly in ca, Urgell}) is a town located in the Catalan Pyrenees in Spain. La Seu d'Urgell is also the capital of the comarca Alt Urgell, head of the judicial district of la Seu d'Urgell and the seat of Bi ...

in either category though. The extreme fatigue he felt after the races made him doubt his project. However, he continued in both categories in 2010 and ended the year with a silver medal in the C2 event at the

Tacen Tacen (; in older sources also ''Tacenj'',''Leksikon občin kraljestev in dežel zastopanih v državnem zboru,'' vol. 6: ''Kranjsko''. 1906. Vienna: C. Kr. Dvorna in Državna Tiskarna, pp. 114–115. german: Tazen) is a formerly independent settle ...

. He also added a gold medal in the C2 team event and a silver in the K1 team event. A year later at the 2011 World Championships in

Bratislava Bratislava (, also ; ; german: Preßburg/Pressburg ; hu, Pozsony) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Slovakia. Officially, the population of the city is about 475,000; however, it is estimated to be more than 660,000 — approxim ...

he made history by becoming the first slalom canoeist since

Charles Dussuet Charles Dussuet is a retired Swiss slalom canoeist who competed from the late 1940s to the early 1960s. He won nine medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with three golds (C-1: 1951, 1953; C-2: 1953), three silvers (C-1 team: 1953; C ...

1953 Events January * January 6 – The Asian Socialist Conference opens in Rangoon, Burma. * January 12 – Estonian émigrés found a Estonian government-in-exile, government-in-exile in Oslo. * January 14 ** Marshal Josip Broz Tito i ...

to win 4 medals at the same Championships. The success, however, was followed by a disappointment in 2012 after failing to qualify for the Olympics in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

in either category. Nonetheless, after 2012, Fabien moved to the United States and began competing as an American Canoe Slalom Athlete. Fabien began training with the Potomac Whitewater Racing Center (a U.S. Olympic Center of Excellence). Subsequently, at the 2014 World Championship in

Deep Creek Lake Deep Creek Lake is the largest inland body of water in the U.S. state of Maryland. It covers approximately and has of shoreline. Like all lakes in Maryland, it is man-made. The lake is home to a wide variety of aquatic life, such as freshwate ...

, he won the gold medal in C1, becoming the first male slalom canoeist to win the World Championship title in C1 and K1.

World Cup individual podiums

¹ World Championship counting for World Cup points

References

2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 11 September 2010 C2 men's final results
– accessed 11 September 2010.
2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 11 September 2010 C2 men's team final results.
– accessed 11 September 2010.
2010 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships 12 September 2010 K1 men's team final results
– accessed 12 September 2010. *
Paddling for the USA
– accessed 25 April 2014.

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Lefevre, Fabien 1982 births Living people Canoeists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Canoeists at the 2008 Summer Olympics French male canoeists Olympic canoeists of France Olympic silver medalists for France Olympic bronze medalists for France Olympic medalists in canoeing Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Officers of the Ordre national du Mérite Medalists at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Orléans