Lamine Diack pays tribute to Robert Pariente

Paris, FranceIAAF President Lamine Diack and IAAF Treasurer Jean Poczubut will join mourners today at the Montparnasse cemetery in Paris to pay their final respects to Robert Pariente, the doyen of French athletics’ writers who passed away on the 29th May after a long illness at the age of 75.

Born in Paris, and a law graduate, Robert joined the staff of the legendary sports’ newspaper L’Equipe in 1954, where he quickly became the main athletics’ specialist. He was promoted to editor in chief of Olympic sports in 1964, then editor in chief from 1976, all while editing the monthly athletics magazine “Athletisme”.

In 1972, he published, along with the former athlete Guy Lagorce, “The Fabulous History of the Olympic Games” and this was followed by a masterful work on the history of our sport: “The Fabulous History of Athletics”.

He remained with L’Equipe until 1996, ending up as Deputy General Director of the newspaper, and capped his long career there by producing a commemorative book entitled “L’Equipe 1946-1996, 50 years of sport.”

Robert was also the author and editor of many other books and publications, including a novel called “L’honneur des justes” about the Dreyfus Affair, and reference books such as “Andre Suares – l’insurgé” which won him the Louis-Barthou prize of L’Academie Francaise.

But despite all these achievements, it was as L’Equipe’s top athletics’ writer that Robert became renowned, and his articles were a blend of considerable intellectual power and genuine human warmth and curiosity, which allowed him to get close to the athletes and celebrate their achievements in prose.

A long time member of the IAAF Press Commission, Robert was also a member of the IOC’s Press Commission, and his contributions to the Olympic Movement were recognised when he was awarded the Olympic Order in 1980. Robert was also a regular contributor to the IAAF Magazine and other publications such as “The Magic of Athletics – A Century of Great Moments” published by the International Athletics Foundation in 1999, and “90 Years of the IAAF” published in 2002.

“Robert was an exceptionally talented and cultured man and he will be sadly missed,” said Lamine Diack. “He was someone who had a real passion for athletics – especially the history of our sport, of which he was one of the world’s foremost experts. When I first met Robert in 1957 as a young athlete he was learning his trade as a writer under the tutelage of Gaston Meyer. At that time, L’Equipe was the one newspaper we always bought, and Robert Pariente went on to become the main writer for athletics, and remained at the centre of our sport, with the help of an excellent team, right up until the mid-1990s.  For French speaking fans of the sport, Robert Pariente was the voice of athletics, and thanks to his efforts, L’Equipe gave, and continues to give, athletics the attention it deserves as the leading Olympic sport.”

IAAF