Three household names from the French sports world died in the Argentine helicopter crash.
Camille Muffat, 25, a champion swimmer, had shot to celebrity at 15 and became a national star with three medals at the London 2012 Olympics, including the gold for the 400m free-style. Six feet tall and with iron self-discipline, Muffat was a perfectionist who had spent almost every day since the age of nine practising in the pool of her native Nice.
She caused dismay last July by announcing her surprise retirement, which she said was prompted by weariness with the pressure of training and differences with Fabrice Pellerin, her ultra-strict coach. Le Monde newspaper yesterday called her one of France’s greatest swimmers of all time.
Florence Arthaud, 57, made her name as a talented and aggressive ocean sailor in the 1970s, at a time when few women participated. A courageous, good-humoured adventurer, Arthaud was the model for female navigators of succeeding generations, such as Britain’s Ellen MacArthur.
She was loved as a national treasure as much as for her sporting achievements, the greatest of which was her 1990 victory in the Route du Rhum, the most prestigious of the single-handed transatlantic races. Arthaud, the mother of a 23-year-old daughter, wrote of her struggle with alcohol and a failed marriage in a 2009 biography.
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In 2010 she lost her licence with a drink-driving conviction and was deserted by her sailing sponsors. She last made headlines in 2011 when she was rescued after spending an hour in the water off Corsica following a fall from her yacht at night.
Alexis Vastine, a 28-year-old boxer, had been struggling to win an Olympic gold after coming close with a bronze in the light-welterweight in Beijing in 2008 and losing in the quarter-finals in the same category at the London 2012 Olympics. He claimed in London that his loss on points was unjustified. “I didn’t think that could happen to me a second time,” he said through his tears. “It’s so unfair and I am fed up with it all.”