Fabien Gilot

Fabien Pierre Aurélien Dominique Gilot (born 27 April 1984) is a French Olympic and world champion swimmer.

Early life Gilot was born in Denain, France, to Michel and Yveline Gilot. He started by playing water polo, before switching to swimming.

Career He collected the large majority of his medals in freestyle and medley relay events, and is the only swimmer featured in all the medalled French relay teams since 2003. He has been part of the French swimming team since the world championship of 2003 in Barcelona.

In 2002, he became the European Junior Double Champion in the 100m freestyle, with a time of 50.47 seconds, and the 200m freestyle, with a time of 1.52.30 minutes, in Linz, Austria. That year he also won a gold medal in the 200m freestyle relay at the European Championships. In his victory wave, Gilot revealed an underarm tattoo with three Hebrew words אני כלום בלעדיהם meaning: "I am nothing without them", which he explained was a tribute to his maternal grandmother's Jewish German-born husband Max Goldschmidt, an Auschwitz concentration camp Holocaust survivor. Gilot said that this quote had a very special meaning for him, representing his family and three stars – one for each of his brothers, as well as for his Olympic appearances. He described Goldschmidt as "a grandfather in every way". Goldschmidt died in 2012, but was able to see his grandson's tattoo and his swimming achievements, although not his Olympic gold.

Starting in 2013, Gilot became the team captain of the French swimming team, at European Championships (Berlin 2014), World (Kazan 2015), and at the Olympics (Rio de Janeiro 2016). In 2013 Gilot became a double World Champion as a member of France’s 4×100 meter freestyle (3:11.18) and medley (3:31.51) relays at the FINA World Championships in Barcelona.