Virginie Hériot
Hériot in 1931
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| Personal information | ||||||||||
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| Born | 26 July 1890 Le Vésinet, France |
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| Died | 28 August 1932 (aged 42) Arcachon, France |
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| Sport | ||||||||||
| Sport | Sailing | |||||||||
| Club | Cercle de la Voile d'Arcachon | |||||||||
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Medal record
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Virginie Claire Désirée Marie Hériot (26 July 1890 – 28 August 1932) was a French yachtswoman who won in the 1928 Summer Olympics in the 8 Metre Aile VI.
Daughter of Grands Magasins du Louvre's owner Olympe Hériot and Cyprienne Dubernet, Hériot first cruised in 1904 aboard her mother's yacht Katoomba (rechristened El Salvador in 1904), with her brother Auguste and seven friends of the family. Her Mediterranean tour from April to June of that year would have a deep impact on her life.
On 2 May 1910, at the (Yvelines), she was married to Viscount François Marie Haincque de Saint Senoch, also impassioned by the sea. The yacht El Salvadaor was given to the couple as a wedding present and they spent their honeymoon aboard. They begot a son, Hubert, born on 5 January 1913. In 1918, Hériot underwent a serious surgical operation, and in June 1921 she and her husband separated. She became fully dedicated to yachting after this, seldom staying at her Parisian apartment in rue de Presbourg.
In 1912, Hériot ordered her first racer: L' Aile I, but failed reconquer the Coupe of France that the English had held for two years. In 1921, she acquired the 85-metre 1492-ton steamyacht Finlandia, which she later replaced with the 45-metre 400-ton auxiliary schooner L' Ailée, where she would spend 10 months per year.
Hériot ordered more racers: the 8 Metre L' Aile II and the 6 Metre Petite Aile. In 1922 L' Aile II was first beaten by Bora in Le Havre, but with perseverance Hériot soon won race after race. In 1928, she won the gold medal at the Amsterdam Olympic Games aboard Aile VI, as well as the "Cup of Italy" against Holland, Italy, England, the United States, Sweden, Norway and Argentina. In 1929, she lifted the "Coupe of France" from the English and won "His Majesty Alfonso XIII of Spain Copa del Rey". In 1931, she won the Ryde-Le Havre-Ryde race with a lead of 9 minutes and 40 seconds on the three-masted schooner Sonia.
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