A Birthday to Remember - Charles Coste

Charles Coste, born in 1924 in Ollioules, France on February 8. He is most famous for his accomplishments in cycling and he competed in the London Summer Olympics in 1948, winning gold with his team, Pierre Adam, Serge Blusson, and Fernand Decanali. Charles Coste competed in cycling until 1959 at the age of 35 years old. In those years he won the Grand Prix de Nations in 1949, the Paris-Limoges race in 1953, and the Ronde de Monaco in 1954. Striving to be an Olympic champion from a young age, Charles Coste recalls in an interview with CNN, “I was a tale of friendship between people. My mother told me that when I was 12, I was saying I would be a general or an olympic champion.”  And for Coste that dream of becoming an olympic champion came true. Charles Coste competed in his first Olympics at the 1948 Summer Olympics in London. At the games Coste won a gold medal with his team in the track cycling event. “It was a small podium. They gave us the medal in a box, they did not put it around your neck at the time.” Coste remembered. “Then we waited and after a while they told us, ‘You won't hear La Marseillaise, we could not find the disc.’ Our goal, however, was to get the gold medal.”

The last Paris Summer Olympics was held in 1924 exactly 100 years ago. To mark  Charles Coste’s one hundred years and honor him for being the oldest living French medalist, he is carrying the Olympic Torch for this year's Paris Summer Olympics from July to August in 2024. “I will try to do it,” he says, ”it’s a great honor. Back in the day, there were not so many reporters coming to me. It’s a nice birthday present.” Charles Coste has made a great impact in cycling history around the world with his accomplishments and is finally being honored with carrying the torch for this year's 2024 Paris Summer Olympics.