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French cyclist Charles Coste, the oldest living Olympian and 1948 gold medalist, has died, the International Olympic Committee confirmed Monday. He was 101 years old.
“We have to say goodbye to an Olympic cycling champion since London 1948 and penultimate torchbearer at 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 practitioner Teddy Riner (second 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 statement said 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 championship. Shortly after winning his Olympic medal, the French cyclist won bronze at the 1948 World Championships.
Charles Coste at the end of the Nations Grand Prix in Paris, France, on September 18, 1949. (Keystone-France/Gamma-Rapho via Getty Images)
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He retired in 1959, after having competed in, but not finished, two Tours de France.
Coste’s excellence, which included a 39-second victory over Italy in the 1948 Games by the largest margin in Olympic history, was remembered 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 of having him pass the Olympic flame to me during the Paris 2024 Games,” Riner said of the moment in a social media post.
French cyclist and Olympic team pursuit champion at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London, Charles Coste attends a ceremony to receive the Legion of Honor at the headquarters of the Organizing Committee of the Paris 2024 Olympic and Paralympic Games in Saint-Denis, outside Paris, on April 13, 2022. (FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images)
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“This moment symbolized the passion and transmission that drove him. Charles Coste represented commitment, respect and love for sport in all its forms. His journey inspires admiration and his legacy will continue to inspire generations to come.”
