Florent Manaudou French Swimmer From Villeurbanne

Florent Manaudou was born on 12 November 1990 in Villeurbanne, France. He is a French sprint swimmer who won the 50 metre freestyle at the 2012 Olympic Games and later took further Olympic medals in 2016, 2020 and 2024. He is 199 cm tall and the younger brother of Laure Manaudou, who won Olympic gold in 2004.

Early life

Manaudou has a French father and a Dutch mother. He began swimming under the direction of his older brother Nicolas and then joined a swimming club in Marseille. In 2007 he became French junior champion in the 50 metre freestyle. He joined the French Army in 2009 and has served in an artillery regiment. He and Laure are the first siblings to have both won Olympic gold medals in swimming.

Career

At the 2011 World Championships in Shanghai his only individual event was the 50 metre butterfly, in which he placed fifth. He qualified for the 2012 London Olympics by finishing second in the 50 metre freestyle at the French trials. Although he came into the Games with only the tenth-fastest time in the world that year, he won the Olympic title in 21.34 seconds, ahead of Cullen Jones and the defending champion Cesar Cielo. He was the first Frenchman to win that event and the sixth French Olympic champion in an individual event. At the European Short Course Championships in Chartres that December he won five gold medals, including the 50 metre freestyle, and at the World Short Course Championships in Istanbul he took silver in the same event behind Vladimir Morozov.

In 2013 he won gold in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay at the World Championships in Barcelona, swimming the second leg alongside Yannick Agnel, Fabien Gilot and Jeremy Stravius. In the 50 metre freestyle there he led the heats and semi-finals but finished fifth in the final.

The 2014 World Short Course Championships brought him six medals, three of them gold, and the first world records of his career, in the 50 metre backstroke and the 50 metre freestyle. He also won four golds at the European Championships in Berlin that year. At the 2015 World Championships in Kazan he won three gold medals, among them the 50 metre freestyle, which he swam in 21.19 seconds, the fastest time recorded in a textile suit.

At the French championships in April 2016 he failed to qualify for the 100 metre freestyle at the Rio Olympics, but he did qualify in the 50 metre freestyle. In Rio he won silver in that event and silver in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay. In 2019 he swam for Energy Standard in the first season of the International Swimming League, co-captaining the team with Sarah Sjostrom and winning races in freestyle, butterfly and freestyle skins.

He qualified for the delayed Tokyo Olympics by winning the 50 metre freestyle at a meet in Marseille. In Tokyo, held in 2021, he advanced to the final as the second-ranked swimmer and took silver in 21.55 seconds, behind Caeleb Dressel and ahead of Bruno Fratus. It was his third consecutive Olympic medal in the event. He also swam in the 4x100 metre freestyle relay, where France placed sixth.

In 2023 he won the 50 metre freestyle and 50 metre butterfly at the Belgian Open in Antwerp with times that met the qualifying standard for the World Championships. He placed second in the 50 metre butterfly at the French championships in Rennes, behind Maxime Grousset, and then won the national title in the 50 metre freestyle in 21.62 seconds.

At the 2024 Olympics in Paris he carried the French flag at the opening ceremony together with the discus thrower Melina Robert. He won two bronze medals, one in the 50 metre freestyle and one with the French team in the 4x100 metre medley relay.

Recognition

For his performance in 2012 Manaudou was made a Knight of the Legion of Honour. In 2015 he was named Champion of Champions by the newspaper L'Equipe. SwimSwam placed him 25th in its men's top 100 for 2021 and 77th in 2022.

Television

He has appeared in the French television series Vestiaires, Munch and Section de recherches, and in 2025 he took a role in A priori. In 2025 he also took part in the fourteenth season of the dance programme Danse avec les Stars.