A few months after being elected Miss France 2011, Laury Thilleman fell in love with a medal-winning athlete from the Olympic Games. A swimming champion from Nice, the young man had even managed the feat of winning two gold medals at the London Olympics in 2012 but also in Budapest in 2010. It was Clément Lefert, a handsome dark-haired man who had the audacity to retire from sport at just 24 years old. “I need intellectual activity, go to class, go to work. Just swimming is hard. I get up, go swimming, play Playstation, sleep, and swim again. For me, it is important to stay in society. When you are a top athlete, you are not one of them“, he explained in 2012 to Nice morning.
Very discreet, the couple had always let the mystery hang over their idyll. Interviewed by Nikos Aliagas in 2011 on NRJ, the former beauty queen had also maintained the vagueness of her story with the swimmer. A little shy, she confided:I mustn’t talk about that, I’ll leave the suspense a bit…“.
It was only two years later, in 2013, that the beautiful brunette confirmed their breakup with journalists from the Parisianeven pouring out the details and the causes of their separation: “It’s finish. The distance made our relationship difficult to manage“. Indeed, the young man studied at SKEMA Business School before taking an economics course at the University of Southern California, Los Angeles. Subsequently, he traveled the world during his swimming career.
If some fans were hoping for a potential flashback between the former lovebirds, the former protege of Sylvie Tellier had immediately removed their questions. “We are friends, there is no longer any ambiguity between us. (…) If ever there is a duo test, it can only be an asset to be with him because he is strong“, she affirmed to TVMag.
Since his early retirement from sport, Clément Lefert has been a financial analyst at Andurand Capital Management then a sports consultant for Canal+. Very discreet, he has a private Instagram account. For her part, Laury Thilleman was in a relationship with chef Juan Arbelaez. Married on December 21, 2019, they announced their breakup last May.