Louis Bonniot de Fleurac

Louis Bonniot de Fleurac was French 4,000 m steeplechase champion in 1901-1905 (1903 in 13:05.4), 1907-08 and 1910-11. He also won the 10,000 m in 1906 (in 33:53.2) and 1908, and the 1,500 m in 1903. He also set the 3,000 metres French record of 9:02.4 in 1904. He later co-wrote, with Pierre Failliot, the definitive work on French on athletics, Les courses à pied et les concours athlétiques.

Bonniot de Fleurac later became a graphic artist, working as an illustrator and cartoonist, and also produced high-quality drawings. Only a few of his drawings have survived. As early as 1908, however, in the year of his second Olympic participation as a runner, de Fleurac published an album entitled PLAY?.. – Croquis de Tennis (Tennis Sketches) with 32 color lithographs of then tennis greats. He participated in the 1928 Amsterdam Olympics as an artist, and submitted five drawings, among them three portraits of famous tennis players, Henri Cochet, René Lacoste and Jean Borotra.

Personal Best: 1500 – 4:08.2 (1908).