Jean Bouin

Medal record
Jean Bouin (right) and Hannes Kolehmainen in Stockholm, 1912
Men's athletics
Competitor for France
Olympic Games
Silver	1912 Stockholm	5000 metres

Jean Bouin (December 20, 1888 – September 29, 1914) was a French athlete and rugby union footballer. He competed at the 1908 Summer Olympics in London and at the 1912 Summer Olympics in Stockholm.

In the 1500 metres, Bouin placed second of three in his initial semifinal heat and did not advance to the final. His time was 4:17.0.

His struggle against Finland's Hannes Kolehmainen in the 5,000-metre final of the 1912 Olympics has long been regarded as one of the most memorable moments of international track races. Bouin lost that race to Kolehmainen by just 0.1 seconds; their times were 14 minutes 36.7 seconds and 14:36.6, respectively (see, for example, Matti Hannus, The Flying Finns, chapter 1, "Hannes Kolehmainen", originally published as "Lentävät suomalaiset" in Helsinki, Finland, in 1988; Wolfgang Wünsche, The Heroes of Race Tracks/Kilpakenttien sankarit, chapter entitled "The Long-Distance Races"/Pitkät matkat, translated into Finnish and published in Helsinki, Finland, in 1984).

Bouin was killed in action during World War I near Xivray, Meuse, 10 miles east of Saint-Mihiel.

The Stade Jean-Bouin in the 16th arrondissement of Paris, home of the Stade Français rugby union club, was named after him. The French government made a stamp with his picture on it and many games have been held in his honor.

A 10 km race under the name of Jean Bouin takes place every year through the streets of Barcelona since 1920.

See also

• List of international rugby union players killed in action during the First World War

References

• Cook, Theodore Andrea (1908). The Fourth Olympiad, Being the Official Report. London: British Olympic Association. 
• De Wael, Herman (2001). "Athletics 1908". Herman's Full Olympians. http://users.skynet.be/hermandw/olymp/ath1908.html. Retrieved 30 July 2006. 
• Godwin, Terry Complete Who's Who of International Rugby (Cassell, 1987, ISBN 0713718382)
• Wudarski, Pawel (1999). "Wyniki Igrzysk Olimpijskich". http://olympic.w.interia.pl/. Retrieved 30 July 2006.  (Polish)

Records
Preceded by John Svanberg	Men's 3,000 m World Record Holder June 11, 1911 – September 24, 1911	Succeeded by Hannes Kolehmainen
Preceded by Hannes Kolehmainen	Men's 10,000 m World Record Holder November 16, 1911 – June 22, 1921	Succeeded by Paavo Nurmi