Stéphane Diagana (born 23 July 1969 in

Saint-Affrique Saint-Affrique (; Languedocien: ''Sant Africa'') is a commune in the Aveyron department in Southern France. History Saint-Affrique grew in the 6th century around the tomb of St. Africain, bishop of Comminges. In the 12th century a fortress ...

Aveyron Aveyron (; oc, Avairon; ) is a department in the region of Occitania, Southern France. It was named after the river Aveyron. Its inhabitants are known as ''Aveyronnais'' (masculine) or ''Aveyronnaises'' (feminine) in French. The inhabitants o ...

) is a retired, French

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping events ...

sprinter and

hurdler Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today, ...

. His specialities were the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

and the

4 x 400 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. Diagana won the

gold medal at the 1997 World Championships in

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 ...

and the

gold medal at the 2003 World Championships in

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

. In 2002 he won the

gold medal 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, ...

Munich Munich ( ; german: München ; bar, Minga ) is the capital and most populous city of the States of Germany, German state of Bavaria. With a population of 1,558,395 inhabitants as of 31 July 2020, it is the List of cities in Germany by popu ...

. Diagana also set a new, European 400 metres hurdles outdoor record of 47.37 sec. in

Lausanne , neighboring_municipalities= Bottens, Bretigny-sur-Morrens, Chavannes-près-Renens, Cheseaux-sur-Lausanne, Crissier, Cugy, Écublens, Épalinges, Évian-les-Bains (FR-74), Froideville, Jouxtens-Mézery, Le Mont-sur-Lausanne, Lugrin (FR-74), ...

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

on 5 July 1995. This record stood until June 2019. In his only Olympic appearance, Diagana finished in fourth position in the final of the

of the 1992 Olympics in

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

. In that Olympics, his 4 x 400 metres relay team was eliminated in the heats. Diagana retired from competition in 2004 and became a television commentator and advisor to the

Fédération française d'athlétisme The French Athletics Federation (french: Fédération française d'athlétisme - ''FFA''), is the governing body for the sport of athletics in France. History FFA is the heir to the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), ...

(French Athletics Federation).European 400m hurdles record holder Diagana injured in a road accident
.

European Athletics The European Athletic Association (more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics has 51 ...

(22 January 2011). Retrieved on 23 January 2011. On 7 April 2008, Diagana was an Olympic torch runner for the

2008 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 Nati ...

. While he was running with the torch in

, Paris city councillor

Sylvain Garel Sylvain Garel (born 1956) is a French Green politician. Early life Garel was born in the 18th arrondissement of Paris. He has a master's degree in Contemporary History and specializes in Film History. He entered politics at age 17, in the Ecol ...

tried to snatch it from his hands.Chris Buckley and Thierry Leveque (7 April 2008)
Protests turn Paris Olympic torch run into farce

The Independent ''The Independent'' is a British online newspaper. It was established in 1986 as a national morning printed paper. Nicknamed the ''Indy'', it began as a broadsheet and changed to tabloid format in 2003. The last printed edition was publis ...

. Retrieved 29 July 2010. On 21 January 2011, Diagana was seriously injured in road accident while he was cycling along a road of the Col de Vence in the

department Department may refer to: * Departmentalization, division of a larger organization into parts with specific responsibility Government and military *Department (administrative division), a geographical and administrative division within a country, ...

Alpes-Maritimes Alpes-Maritimes (; oc, Aups Maritims; it, Alpi Marittime, "Maritime Alps") is a department of France located in the country's southeast corner, on the Italian border and Mediterranean coast. Part of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region, it ...

in southeast

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 ...

. He was airlifted by helicopter to a hospital in

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

. He suffered head injuries and although in a serious condition, he did not lose consciousness. He is married to

Odile Lesage Odile Lesage (born 28 June 1969, in Paris) is a retired French heptathlete. She finished eighth at the 1988 World Junior Championships, seventeenth at the 1991 World Championships, third at the 1993 Mediterranean Games and twelfth at the 199 ...

, with whom he has three children.

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diagana, Stephane 1969 births Living people Sportspeople from Aveyron French sportspeople of Senegalese descent French male hurdlers French male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of France World Athletics Championships athletes for France World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Knights of the Ordre national du Mérite ESCP Europe alumni Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1993 Mediterranean Games World Athletics Championships winners