Personal information | |
---|---|
Nickname | The Black Pearl |
Born |
Maisons-Laffitte, France |
31 January 1985
Height | 1.81 m (5 ft 11 in) |
Weight | 100 kg (220 lb) |
Team information | |
Discipline | Track |
Role | Rider |
Rider type | Sprinter |
Medal record
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Grégory Baugé (born 31 January 1985) is a French professional racing cyclist. He is a nine-time world champion in track cycling, after being stripped of two titles in January 2012 for doping.
Bauge first took up sport at the age of eight, playing football. His father enrolled him in the Aubergenville cycling school. At that time he took part in road races, mountain biking and trial cycling.
In 2000 he joined a cycling club in Yvelines. Aware of his qualities and encouraged by his father, he gradually left road cycling to concentrate on track cycling. in July 2001, he participated in the French National cadet (15–16 years) sprint championships where he was beaten in the final by Guillaume Blot.
In November 2001 he joined the Creteil Athletic Union, and permanently dedicated himself to the track. The following year, at 17, he entered the National Institute for Sport and Physical Education in Paris.
He joined the France junior sprint team in 2002. With Mickaël Murat and Francois Pervis, he became World Champion in the Junior (17–18 years) team sprint discipline. With his coach Gerard Quintyn, he competed at the Athens Olympics in 2004. Bauge specialised in the opening lap of the team sprint.
At the 2008 Olympics, he won the silver medal in the team sprint.
In January 2012 it was announced that Baugé had received a backdated 12-month suspension for missing doping tests. This meant that all his results for 2011 were nullified. This elevated Britain's Jason Kenny to gold medal position in the Sprint event at the 2011 World Championships, as well as giving the German Team Sprint team the gold medal in the same meet.
Baugé regained the World Championship Sprint title by beating defending champion Jason Kenny in the final of the 2012 event. Baugé went on to win two Olympic silver medals, in the team sprint (losing to Great Britain in the final for the second successive games), and in the individual sprint (being defeated by Kenny in the final).