Thierry Vigneron is a retired French

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

 athlete. For many years he was among the world's leading pole vault

Pole vault

Pole vaulting is a track and field event in which a person uses a long, flexible pole as an aid to leap over a bar. Pole jumping competitions were known to the ancient Greeks, as well as the Cretans and Celts...

ers.

Vigneron burst onto the world stage by unexpectedly beating the world record of Poland's Władysław Kozakiewicz with 5.75 m on June 29, 1980. Though he lost his world record to another Frenchman, Philippe Houvion

Philippe Houvion

Philippe Houvion is a retired French pole vaulter. On July 17, 1980 in Paris Houvion jumped 5.77 metres, beating the world record of Thierry Vigneron by two centimetres. The record only lasted until July 20, when Władysław Kozakiewicz of Poland jumped 5.78 metres in Moscow...

, two weeks later, he was one of the favorites at the 1980 Summer Olympics

1980 Summer Olympics

The 1980 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event celebrated in Moscow in the Soviet Union. In addition, the yachting events were held in Tallinn, and some of the preliminary matches and the quarter-finals of the football tournament...

. However, Vigneron could not rise to the challenge and lost the title to Kozakiewicz, who also reclaimed the world record that day with 5.78 m. On June 20, 1981, Vigneron came back to beat the world record with a 5.80 m jump, only to lose it to the Soviet Union

Soviet Union

The Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....

's Vladimir Polyakov

Vladimir Polyakov

Vladimir Polyakov is a retired pole vaulter who represented the USSR and later Russia. On June 26, 1981 he managed to clear 5.81 metres, beating Thierry Vigneron's six-day-old world record. Two years later Polyakov lost the record to Pierre Quinon, who jumped 5.82...

 six days later. After yet another Frenchman, Pierre Quinon

Pierre Quinon

Pierre Quinon was a pole vaulter from France.On August 28, 1983 in the German city of Cologne, he set a new world record with 5.82 metres. That day, after winning the contest, he became the first athlete to attempt to clear 6.00 metres in an official meet...

, raised the record to 5.82 m, Vigneron vaulted himself on top again with 5.83 m on September 1, 1983. This record remained unbeaten until May 26, 1984 when Sergey Bubka cleared 5.84 m just weeks before the 1984 Summer Olympics

1984 Summer Olympics

The 1984 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIII Olympiad, was an international multi-sport event held in Los Angeles, California, United States in 1984...

 in Los Angeles

Los Ángeles

Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...

, in which Vigneron took the bronze medal while Bubka was absent due to the Soviet boycott. A few weeks after the Olympics (September 1, 1984), Bubka beat Vigneron in a memorable contest in which the Frenchman briefly retook the world record with 5.91 m and the Ukrainian cleared 5.94 immediately afterwards. This was the high-water mark of Vigneron's career. Despite a silver medal at the World Indoor Championships in 1985, a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in 1987

1987 IAAF World Indoor Championships

The 1st IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in Indianapolis, United States from March 6 to March 8, 1987. The championship had previously been known as the World Indoor Games, which were held once before changing the name....

, and a silver medal at the 1987 World Championships

1987 World Championships in Athletics

The 2nd World Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations were held in the Stadio Olimpico in Rome, Italy between August 28 and September 6, 1987.-Track:1983 | 1987 | 1991 | 1993 | 1995...

 in Rome

Rome

Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...

, Vigneron was never able again to match Bubka who brought the world record to its present-day mark of 6.14 m. He retired from athletics in 1996.