Arnaud Tournant

Arnaud Tournant

Tournant at the 2011 Six Days of Grenoble
Personal information
Full name	Arnaud Tournant
Born	(1978-04-05) 5 April 1978 (age 43)[1] Roubaix, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)[2]
Weight	88 kg (194 lb)[2]
Team information
Discipline	Track
Role	Rider & Manager
Rider type	Sprinter
Professional team
1997–2008	Cofidis
Managerial team
2009–	Cofidis
show Medal record Representing  France Men's track cycling Olympic Games 2000 Sydney Team sprint 2004 Athens Track time trial 2008 Beijing Team sprint 2004 Athens Team sprint World Championship 1997 Perth Team sprint 1998 Bordeaux Kilo 1998 Bordeaux Team sprint 1999 Berlin Kilo 1999 Berlin Team sprint 2000 Manchester Kilo 2000 Manchester Team sprint 2001 Antwerp Kilo 2001 Antwerp Sprint 2001 Antwerp Team sprint 2004 Melbourne Team sprint 2006 Bordeaux Team sprint 2007 Palma de Mallorca Team sprint 2008 Manchester Team sprint 2002 Ballerup Kilo 2003 Stuttgart Team sprint 2004 Melbourne Kilo 2003 Stuttgart Kilo 2006 Bordeaux Keirin

Arnaud Tournant (born 5 April 1978) is a French track cyclist. He has won 14 World Championships (record of men) and won a gold, silver and a bronze at the Summer Olympics.

Biography[]

Tournant was born in Roubaix, near the border with Belgium, and currently lives in Fontenay-sous-Bois.^[1] He began making his mark as an international rider whilst still in the junior ranks, winning the silver medal at the Junior Track World Championships in 1996.^[3]

World record[]

Tournant is a former world record holder (at altitude) for the Kilo (1000m time trial). He first set the record in Mexico in 2000, with a time of 1:00.148. In October the following year, at the age of 23, Tournant became the first man to go under the one-minute mark, breaking his own world record with a new time of 58.875 seconds set at La Paz, Bolivia.^[4][5]

Chris Hoy came to within 0.005 seconds of Tournant's record on his second attempt, but failed to beat it. Hoy said he could not go any faster, and had even more respect for Tournant and his talents.

2004[]

Tournant was a member of the French team sprint squad at the 2004 UCI Track Cycling World Championships, this was the sixth time they won a gold medal with Tournant. He also picked up a silver medal in the Kilo.

At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Tournant won a silver medal in the kilo, and a bronze in the team sprint.

Tournant refused to speak at a post-race press conference at the Olympics, until , a journalist for Le Monde newspaper, and an anti-doping campaigner, left the room. Mandard's reporting of the Cofidis doping scandal had left scars, despite the fact that Tournant had not been involved. At the press conference, Tournant held his ground and after a long pause, Mandard walked out.^[3]

2008 and retirement[]

Tournant was a member of the team sprint squad (with Grégory Baugé, Kévin Sireau and Mickaël Bourgain) which won a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. He retired after these Olympic Games and was made a Commander of the Ordre national du Mérite on 14 November 2008.^[6] However, he will continue to be involved in cycling as he has been named as the new directeur sportif of the Cofidis track team.^[6][7]

Major results[]

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Arnaud Tournant.

• Arnaud Tournant at Cycling Archives
• Arnaud Tournant at the Comité National Olympique et Sportif Français (in French)
• Arnaud Tournant at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Arnaud Tournant at databaseOlympics.com at the Wayback Machine (archived 2007-09-30)