Tony Estanguet


Tony Estanguet is a French slalom canoeist and a three-time Olympic champion in C1. He competed at the international level from 1994 to 2012.

Racing career

Estanguet won three Olympic gold medals in the C1 event in 2000, 2004 and 2012. At the 2004 games in Athens he won the gold medal after a late judges decision to award a 2-second penalty to Michal Martikán.
Estanguet was the flag-bearer for France at the 2008 Beijing Summer Olympics opening ceremony. He finished in the 9th position in the semi-finals of the C1 event and was thus eliminated from the final.
At the 2012 London Summer Olympics, he became the first French Olympian to win three gold medals in the same Olympic discipline.
He won twelve medals at the ICF Canoe Slalom World Championships with five golds, six silvers, and a bronze.
Estanguet won the overall World Cup title in C1 in 2003 and 2004. He also won a total of ten medals at the European Championships.
Together with his brother Patrice, he developed the Pau-Pyrénées Whitewater Stadium in their home town of Pau.
He announced his retirement on 30 November 2012.

World Cup individual podiums

SeasonDateVenuePositionEvent
199625 Aug 1996Prague1stC1
1997[|3] Aug 1997Minden1stC1
199920 Jun 1999Tacen3rdC1
200030 Apr 2000Penrith3rdC1
2000[|2] Jul 2000Saint-Pé-de-Bigorre1stC1
20009 Jul 2000La Seu d'Urgell3rdC1
200023 Jul 2000Prague1stC1
200226 May 2002Guangzhou1stC1
200331 Jul 2003Bratislava1stC1
20033 Aug 2003Bratislava1stC1
200423 Apr 2004Athens1stC1
200423 May 2004La Seu d'Urgell1stC1
200411 Jul 2004Prague1stC1
200425 Jul 2004Bourg St.-Maurice1stC1
200517 Jul 2005Augsburg3rdC1
200524 Jul 2005La Seu d'Urgell1stC1
2005[|1] Oct 2005Penrith2ndC11
20062 Jul 2006L'Argentière-la-Bessée1stC12
20066 Aug 2006Prague1stC11
200718 Mar 2007Foz do Iguaçu1stC13
200821 Jun 2008Prague1stC1
200912 Jul 2009Augsburg1stC1
201027 Jun 2010La Seu d'Urgell2ndC1
20104 Jul 2010Augsburg2ndC1
20119 Jul 2011Markkleeberg3rdC1
201216 Jun 2012Pau1stC1
201223 Jun 2012La Seu d'Urgell3rdC1

Education

Estanguet graduated from French business school ESSEC, specializing in sports marketing.

Family

Tony is the son of Henri Estanguet, himself a canoeist who won medals at the Wildwater Canoe World Championships in the 1970s. His older brother Patrice won a bronze medal at the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta.

Post-racing career & Paris 2024 Olympic Organizing Committee

In 2012 Estanguet was elected to the IOC Athletes' Commission. He will serve as an IOC member for eight years. He successfully led Paris's bid for the 2024 Summer Olympics and is serving as the head of the organizing committee for those games.