In the fall of 2022, Didier Desplanques receives an email that is almost worth gold and will enrich the family saga.
An amateur historian tells him that his great-great-grandfather won a silver medal in the sailing event at the Paris Olympic Games in 1900, at the very old age (for an athlete) of 58 years.
“I'm very interested in genealogy, so it surprised me a lot because no one had ever talked to me about it.
I felt total pride, I would rather it be a medal in sailing than in cannon shooting as it existed in 1900!
» laughs this 63-year-old retiree based near Lille (North), former financial director of a “construction company”.
His glorious ancestor is called Jules Dubois, a pure Parisian born on March 1, 1842 in the 2nd arrondissement and died on May 16, 1910 in the 17th.
This long-forgotten past was brought to light by Stéphane Gachet, a sort of Sherlock Holmes of the black and white Olympics.
This is one of the revelations of his recently published book “Summer Olympics: all the French medalists from 1896 to the present day” (Talents éditions).
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