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French cyclist Charles Coste, the oldest living Olympian and gold medalist in 1948, has died, the International Olympic Committee confirmed on Monday. He was 101 years old.
“We must say goodbye to an Olympic cycling champion from London 1948 and penultimate torchbearer of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games, Charles Coste,” IOC President Kirsty Coventry said in a statement.
Torchbearer Charles Coste (center) passes the torch to French athlete Marie-José Pérec (right) and French judo athlete Teddy Riner (second from right) in the Tuileries Gardens during the opening ceremony of the Paris 2024 Olympic Games on July 26, 2024, in Paris, France. (Al Bello/Getty Images)
“At 101, he was the oldest living Olympic champion. The image of him passing the Olympic flame to Teddy Riner and Marie-José Pérec in the Paris rain during the Paris 2024 opening ceremony went around the world. He will be remembered forever. Our thoughts are with his family at this difficult time.”
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Coste, who was the penultimate Olympian to light the Olympic flame at the 2024 Paris Games, died last Thursday, according to French President Emmanuel Macron’s office.
The press release indicates that Coste was “until his last breath, the tireless messenger of a certain idea of sport”.
Coste won gold at the 1948 London Olympics in the team pursuit. A year earlier, he had won his first medal after winning the individual pursuit at the 1947 French amateur championships. Shortly after winning his Olympic medal, the French cyclist won bronze at the 1948 World Championships.
Charles Coste at the finish of the Grand Prix des Nations in Paris, France, September 18, 1949. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
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He retired in 1959, after having participated, without completing them, in two Tours de France.
Coste’s excellence, which included a 39-second victory over Italy at the 1948 Games, the largest margin in Olympic history, was recalled in Paris last year when, sitting in a wheelchair, he passed the flame to French Olympians Teddy Riner and Marie-José Perec.
“Charles Coste has left us, I had the immense honor that he passed me the Olympic flame during the Paris 2024 Games,” Riner said in a message on social networks.
French cyclist and Olympic team pursuit champion at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Charles Coste attends a Legion of Honor reception ceremony at the headquarters of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Organizing Committee in Saint-Denis, near Paris, on April 13, 2022. (FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
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“This moment symbolized the passion and transmission that animated him. Charles Coste represented the commitment, respect and love of sport in all its forms. His journey commands admiration and his legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.”
