Raphaël Piolanti (born 14 November 1967 in Metz) is a retired male hammer thrower from France. His personal best throw is 79.68 metres, achieved in September 1992 in Bourgoin-Jallieu. This was a French record at that time.
In November 1993 he was found guilty of sexual assault on fellow athletes Catherine Moyon de Baecque and Michelle Rouveyrol. He allegedly raped them during an athletics camp in August 1991.
Piolanti is now president and coach in Athletic Club Amneville – the athletic club he has been in his entire career. He has trained several high calibre throwers at the club including Jerome Bortoluzzi, Maxime Maier, Quentin Bigot, and Bruno Boccalate.
In July 2014 he was accused of supporting the doping of athletes, including Quentin Bigot.[1]
In 2018, a French court issued a lifetime ban from competitive athletics to Piolanti for the possession and administration of prohibited substances.[2] [3] The court also sentenced him to one-year suspended prison term.
| Representing | ||||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1985 | European Junior Championships | Cottbus, East Germany | 9th | 60.90 m |
| 1986 | World Junior Championships | Athens, Greece | 4th | 68.26 m |
| 1989 | Jeux de la Francophonie | Casablanca, Morocco | 1st | 73.16 m |
| 1990 | European Championships | Split, Yugoslavia | 14th | 72.50 m |
| 1991 | World Championships | Tokyo, Japan | 8th | 73.64 m |
| Mediterranean Games | Athens, Greece | 1st | 75.10 m | |
| 1992 | Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 16th | 73.22 m |
| 1993 | World Championships | Stuttgart, Germany | 10th | 75.88 m |
| 1995 | World Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 9th | 75.98 m |
| 1996 | Olympic Games | Atlanta, United States | 11th | 75.24 m |
| 1997 | World Championships | Athens, Greece | 11th | 74.08 m |
| Mediterranean Games | Bari, Italy | 2nd | 77.20 m | |
| 1999 | World Championships | Seville, Spain | 22nd | 74.23 m |
| 2001 | Mediterranean Games | Radès, Tunisia | 3rd | 71.52 m |
| Jeux de la Francophonie | Ottawa-Hull, Canada | 3rd | 72.71 m | |