Jérémy Stravius (born 14 July 1988) is a French
swimmer
Swimming is an individual or team racing sport that requires the use of one's entire body to move through water. The sport takes place in pools or open water (e.g., in a sea or lake). Competitive swimming is one of the most popular Olympic ...
, swimming freestyle, backstroke, and butterfly.
Career
Stravius appeared on the world stage at the
2009 European Short Course Swimming Championships in
Istanbul
Istanbul ( , ; tr, İstanbul ), formerly known as Constantinople ( grc-gre, Κωνσταντινούπολις; la, Constantinopolis), is the List of largest cities and towns in Turkey, largest city in Turkey, serving as the country's economic, ...
where he was part of the winning 4 × 50 m freestyle relay and finished in the top 8 in the 50 m breaststroke. The next year at the
2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships
The 2010 European Short Course Swimming Championships was held 25–28 November 2010 at Pieter van den Hoogenband Zwemstadion in Eindhoven, Netherlands. The meet featured competition amongst national teams from Europe, in 38 short course (25m) ...
in
Hungary
Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...
, Stravius won his first medal at an international meet, winning a silver in the 100 m backstroke. At this meet, he also was part of the winning 4 × 100 m medley relay and the bronze medal winning team of the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay. Stravius won his first international gold winning the gold medal in the 100 m backstroke at the
2011 FINA World Championships in Shanghai. He shared it with countryman
Camille Lacourt
Camille Lacourt (; born 22 April 1985) is a retired French competitive swimmer and backstroke specialist. He won the 50 metre backstroke at three consecutive world championships ( 2013 Barcelona, 2015 Kazan, and 2017 Budapest). He competed at t ...
. He also received a silver in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay at this meet.
![Kazan 2015 - Stravius Heats 50m backstroke](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d2/Kazan_2015_-_Stravius_Heats_50m_backstroke.JPG)
Stravius got third at the French Olympic Trials in the 100 m backstroke, just missing out on a chance to swim an individual event at the Olympics. 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 ...
he won two medals, competing on the gold medal-winning 4 × 100 m freestyle relay and silver medal-winning 4 × 200 m freestyle relay teams for France, but only swimming the heats.
On 28 July 2013, at the
FINA World Championships in Barcelona, Stravius was part of the winning 4 × 100 m medley relay where he swam the butterfly leg. Stravius was in the anchor position for France in the 4 × 100 m men's freestyle final. The French were the defending Olympic champions but were seeded outside the middle lanes in the final, causing Stravius to remark "On n'était pas favoris, c'est un hold up".
In the final, after 200 m where France was far off from the leading three teams,
Fabien Gilot
Fabien Pierre Aurélien Dominique Gilot (born 27 April 1984) is a French Olympic and world champion swimmer.
Early life
Gilot was born in Denain, France, to Michel and Yveline Gilot. He started by playing water polo, before switching to swimmi ...
exploded through with a 46.90s third leg to bring the French back into contention. Then, Stravius took over the Australians at the start of his leg and trailing the Russians and American swimmers at the midpoint of his anchor leg, Stravius snapped a precise flipturn and, after several powerful dolphin kicks underwater, emerged ahead by a hand, eventually securing the gold medal for France by 0.26s.
He also won silver medals in the 50 m backstroke and the 100 m backstroke. At this meet he also swam the 200 m individual medley and the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay.
At the
2014 European Aquatics Championships
The 2014 European Aquatics Championships took place from 13 to 24 August 2014 in Berlin, Germany. It was the 31st edition of the championships, and was held in a temporary facility placed in the centre of the Berlin Velodrome. Great Britain head ...
in Berlin, Stravius earned two silver medals, one of them in the 50 m backstroke and the other in the 100 m backstroke. He also won a gold in the 4 × 100 m freestyle relay.
Stravius currently holds the French National Record in the 200 m individual medley and the 100 m butterfly (short course).
Personal life
He is openly gay and was the among the 6 French LGBT athletes featured in the documentary ''We Need to Talk''.
References
External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Stravius, Jeremy
Living people
1988 births
Sportspeople from Abbeville
French male backstroke swimmers
French male freestyle swimmers
French male medley swimmers
Olympic gold medalists for France
Olympic silver medalists for France
World Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Olympic swimmers of France
Swimmers at the 2012 Summer Olympics
Swimmers at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Medalists at the FINA World Swimming Championships (25 m)
European Aquatics Championships medalists in swimming
Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics
French male butterfly swimmers
European champions for France
Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic gold medalists in swimming
Olympic silver medalists in swimming
Mediterranean Games silver medalists for France
Swimmers at the 2009 Mediterranean Games
Mediterranean Games medalists in swimming
French LGBT sportspeople
LGBT swimmers
20th-century French people
21st-century French people