Florian Rousseau Explained

Florian Rousseau
Full Name:	Florian Rousseau
Birth Date:	3 February 1974
Birth Place:	Orléans, France
Discipline:	Track
Role:	Rider & Coach
Show-Medals:	yes

Florian Rousseau (born 3 February 1974 in Orléans) is a former French track cyclist who won three gold medals and one silver at the Summer Olympics (1996 and 2000). He was popular among spectators for the facial expressions he pulled - many of them seeming to make his eyes bulge - to help him concentrate at the start of races. In retirement he became one of France's national sprint coaches.

Youth

Rousseau spent much of his childhood and went to school in Patay. He began as a soccer player but, seeing no future in team sports, switched to cycling.^[1] He showed early talent on the track and joined the national sports institute, INSEP, in western Paris in 1990. He won the world junior kilometre championship in 1992 and the world senior championship in 1993 and 1994.^[1]

Career

Florian Rousseau's win in the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, United States, started a golden period for French track cycling that lasted four years. He won the kilometre at Atlanta but dropped the discipline to become a sprinter. He was trained by Gérard Quintyn and won the world sprint championship in 1996 to 1998. He won three Olympic gold medals and a silver. He was world team sprint champion in 1997 and 1998 and won the national sprint championship 17 times.

Management

Florian Rousseau was the national sprint coach at INSEP, in western Paris. He resigned shortly after the 2013 Cycling World Championships in Minsk^[2]

Rousseau was appointed as the inaugural president of the UCI Athletes' Commission in 2011.^[3]

Outside cycling

Rousseau is married to Sonia, and a scuba-diver in his spare time, particularly in the Caribbean and off Australia.

Major results

1992

1st Kilo, World Championships - Junior

3rd Sprint, French National Track Championships - Junior

1993

1st Kilo, World Championships

1st Kilo, French National Track Championships

1994

1st Kilo, World Championships

1st Kilo, French National Track Championships

UCI Track Cycling World Cup Classics champion

1995

2nd Kilo, World Championships

2nd Sprint, World Championships

1st Kilo, French National Track Championships

1st Sprint, French National Track Championships

1996

1st Kilo, Olympic Games

1st Sprint, World Championships

3rd world team sprint championship

1st Kilo, Sprint, French National Track Championships

1st Sprint, French National Track Championships

1997

1st Sprint, World Championships

1st Team sprint, World Championships

1st Sprint, French National Track Championships

1998

1st Sprint, World Championships

1st Team sprint, World Championships

1st Sprint, French National Track Championships

1st Keirin, French National Track Championships

1999

1st Team sprint, World Championships

3rd Sprint, World Championships

2000

1st Keirin, Olympic Games

1st Team sprint, Olympic Games

2nd Sprint, Olympic Games

1st Team sprint, World Championships

1st Sprint, French National Track Championships

2001

1st Team sprint, World Championships

3rd Sprint, World Championships

2nd Sprint, French National Track Championships

3rd Keirin, French National Track Championships

2002

3rd Sprint, World Championships

3rd Sprint, French National Track Championships

Notes and References

Web site: Florian ROUSSEAU.
http://www.lemonde.fr/sport/article/2013/02/25/cyclisme-l-entraineur-florian-rousseau-quitte-la-piste_1838035_3242.html Cyclisme : l'entraineur Florian Rousseau quitte la piste
Web site: UCI Athletes' Commission holds first meeting in Aigle . Ryan . Barry . 5 March 2015 . cyclingnews.com. 5 March 2015.