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 Continental United States, primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 U.S. state, states, a Washington, D.C., ...

, 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 ina ...

in the K1 event with a silver in

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and a bronze in

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. 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 h ...

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 ...

; 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 ...

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; 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 discover ...

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 votes to declare independence from Serbia; The 2006 ...

), 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 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 The 2002 ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships were held in Bourg St.-Maurice, France under the auspices of International Canoe Federation for the record-tying third time. It was the 27th edition. Bourg St.-Maurice hosted the championships previous ...

in Bourg-Saint-Maurice. 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), ...

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. 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 eleva ...

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 and Julien Billaut. He won the K1 team gold again in

, this time joined by Julien Billaut 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 ( Julien Billaut and Stefano Cipressi). 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, ...

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, won by his compatriot Sébastien Combot. 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 Nat ...

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by defeating the reigning Olympic champion Benoît Peschier 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 med ...

, he decided to take up the double canoe discipline (C2) together with Denis Gargaud Chanut, 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, th ...

. 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 ...

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 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 — approximately 140% of ...

he made history by becoming the first slalom canoeist since Charles Dussuet in

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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

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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