Legendary French athlete Michel Jazzy has died at the age of 87.
The former world record holder was an iconic 1500 meter runner who won the European title in 1962.
He set a total of nine world records during his sensational career. The last of these was recorded in his last appearance as an athlete.
He came catastrophically close to winning the 1960 Rome Olympics, finishing 0.65 seconds behind Australia’s Herb Elliott and winning the silver medal.
Four years later, at the Tokyo Olympics, she placed fourth in the 5,000 meters, narrowly missing out on a medal.
However, in 1966 he won the European title in the 5000 meters in Budapest.
At the same competition, he also won a silver medal in the 1500 meters.
Jasey was born into a poor coal miner’s family from Poland and immigrated to France after World War I.
He left school at just 14 years old and became an apprentice in a printing shop two years later.
In 1953 he won the 1000m youth race at the French Championships, and in 1955 he achieved the same feat in the 1500m.
In 1956 he joined the Air Force, but continued to run alongside his duties, competing in the Melbourne Olympics that same year, finishing seventh.
In the late 1950s, he left the Air Force and began working in a printing factory.
Around this time, he also married Irene Denis, a Parisian secretary, and they gave birth to two daughters in the early 1960s.
Jasey’s co-workers at the printing plant claimed that he worked overtime to supplement his track and field training.
But L’Equipe newspaper editor Gaston Mayer intervened and gave him a job as a typographer, allowing him to train in the mornings.
By the time he retired in 1966, he won European and Olympic medals and established himself as one of France’s greatest athletes.