The Frenchman, 9th in the 20km walk, announced that he spent the night in hospital to attend the birth of his child just before the start of the race on Thursday.
“I slept in the hospital, for about half an hour.” French walker Aurélien Quinion, 9th in the 20km walk at the Paris Olympics on Thursday morning, spent the night in hospital to attend the birth of his daughter a few hours before the start of her Olympics.
“You can’t be happier, it’s total happiness”savored Quinion, 31, after the 20 km walk event (9th place in 1h 19:56, personal record).
“The (French Athletics) Federation dropped me off directly at the hospital at 10pm and a taxi brought me back here before the race, it was very quick, well I suppose, four or five hours. It went really well.”he told reporters.
“I slept in the hospital”
The night was therefore very short for the walker, who set off at eight o’clock from Trocadéro for twenty one-kilometre loops in the very centre of Paris, at the foot of the Eiffel Tower.
“I slept in the hospital, for about half an hour, I closed my eyes more than anything else”he explained. “The little one has arrived, she is super beautiful, I think she has blue-green eyes”he explained, very moved. “It was wonderful.”
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“Did it give me wings? I think it doesn’t make you an Olympic champion, as we’ve seen, but these are extra things to hold on to. It was magnificent, honestly, it’s the most beautiful thing in the world.”he said again.
Despite the heat and his short night, Quinion still beat his personal record by just one second. Another Frenchman competing in the 20 km walk, Gabriel Bordier (1h 21:40) took 24th place in the race won by Ecuadorian Brian Daniel Pintado (1h 18:55).
