Jules Ladoumegue
Jules Ladoumègue (
December 10,
1906 -
March 2,
1973 was a French middle distance runner.
Ladomègue was born at
La Bastide-Clairence, near
Bordeaux (
Aquitaine).
His greatest success was the silver medal over 1500 m at the
1928 Summer Olympics, in a race won by
Harri Larva. Ladoumègue also set several world records. On
October 5,
1930 he broke
Otto Peltzer's 1500 m record by 1.8 seconds to become the first 1500 m runner below 3:50 min with a time of 3.49.2 in a race in Paris. Three years later the record was broken by Italian
Luigi Beccali. Only two weeks later, Ladoumègue set a 1000 m record at 2:23.6 that stood for eleven years until
Rudolf Harbig ran 2:21.5. In October 1931, Ladoumegue became the first French world record holder over the Mile with a time of 4:09.2.
In
1955 Ladoumègue published an autobiography, entitled
Dans ma foulée. He died at
Paris in
1973.
