During his incredible career spanning the 1950s and 1960s, he improved 9 world records, 17 European records and around fifty (47) French records.
Our colleagues from L'Équipe named him French champion of the year three times (1960, 1962, 1965), a performance only surpassed by Bernard Hinault and Alain Prost, elected four times.
More than half a century after the end of his career, Michel Jazy, who died this Thursday, February 1 at the age of 87, remains one of the greatest champions in the history of French sport.
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This does not seem imaginable today, but when on June 9, 1965 in Rennes, the Northerner, son of Polish immigrants, beat the world record for the mile in Rennes (1,609 m in 3′53′'06), the television turned its programs.
Guy Lux abandons his famous “Palmarès de la chanson” so that viewers can witness live the exploit of the hero of the de Gaulle years.
“When I broke the mile record, it crossed the Atlantic and I was recognized in the United States.
For the first time, I had the cover of Sports Illustrated, the major sports newspaper across the Atlantic.
It’s the record that brought me the greatest notoriety,” he said later.
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