High jump specialist Claude Ferragne, discovered by many Quebecers during the Montreal Olympic Games, died Sunday at the age of 71.
Born in Montreal in 1952, Ferragne began athletics at the age of 14. After trying his hand at running, he set his sights on the high jump, which became his favorite sport.
It is his exploits in this discipline that make him a key figure in Quebec athletics, believes Michel Portmann, who was his coach in the 1970s.
“He is certainly the athlete who put Quebec on the athletics map… or athletics on the map of Quebec,” says Mr. Portmann, himself a high jumper and a Swiss record holder.
PHOTO RENÉ PICARD, LA PRESSE ARCHIVES
Claude Ferragne at work in 1976
At the time, athletics was a little-known discipline. “Through his exploits, Claude Ferragne acted as a transmitter,” recalls Mr. Portmann.
On March 23, 1973, at the Montreal Forum, Ferragne won the gold medal at the Canada-USSR track and field meet. Along the way, he managed to win the favor of the Montreal public by setting a new Canadian mark of 2.21 m.
Many will remember him for his performance at the 1976 Montreal Olympics, where he finished twelfth. A performance tainted, according to Mr. Portmann, by the “terrible” rain that fell on the metropolis that day: ” [Ferragne] had a slightly different approach to his race than most athletes. [La pluie] handicapped him more than the others.”
Canadian Greg Joy made history by winning the silver medal.
The abrupt end of an Olympic dream
After the 1976 Games, “Ferragne continued to deliver extraordinary performances,” Mr. Portmann recalls. The two men quickly set their sights on the 1980 Games, which were held in Moscow. En route to his Olympic dream, Ferragne won gold at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, the year he was crowned Athlete of the Decade by Sports Québec.
At the same time, he set his personal record: 2.26 m.
However, due to the USSR’s invasion of Afghanistan, the Canadian government chose to boycott the Moscow Games, a decision that sounded the death knell for Ferragne’s career.
Ferragne had prepared himself, he was ready to go to Moscow.
Michel Portmann, former coach of Claude Ferragne
Mr Portmann said he was “shocked” when he heard of the death of his long-time partner, with whom he had been in less contact over the years. “Outside of athletics, we went on trips together. I have very fond memories of him. He was a very nice guy and a very talented athlete.”
A remarkable talent that earned Claude Ferragne induction into the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame in 1996.
With information from The Canadian Encyclopedia