Jacques Amyot

Jacques Amyot (13 November 1924 – 7 September 2018) was a Canadian swimmer from Quebec. As a long distance swimmer, besides holding 50 records in Quebec and 15 in open water swimming in Canada, qualifying for the 1948 London Olympics, and crossing the English channel twice, he may be best known for winning the first 26 km (16 mile) Marathon race across Lac St. Jean on July 23, 1955 in eleven hours and 32 minutes. The race has continued and is now known as la Traversée internationale du lac St-Jean. As an honored guest, Amyot frequently attended the race and congratulated the winner until his death in 2018.

Professional career Amyot began swimming professionally in 1948, participating in the Olympic trials for the London Olympics' 1500 metre freestyle. At the time, there was no long distance event at the Olympics. Then, a few months after his exploit at Lac Saint-Jean, he became the only one to manage to swim around Île d'Orléans, a distance of about 80 kilometres (49.7 miles). He completed the race again in a few subsequent years. He became the first French Canadian to complete the epic swim. On August 29, 1975, at age 50, he completed the channel loop between countries in a half hour less and became the first man to swim the channel with a nineteen year gap, which was the longest time in between attempts.

List of honors Amyot held about 50 records in Quebec and 15 Canadian records in open water swimming. He was elected to the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame in 1993, the Quebec Swimming Hall of Fame in 1998 in the Athlete category with the title of Maître de Québec Saison 1998, and made a Knight of the National Order of Quebec in 2001. After his first successful crossing of Lac Saint-Jean, he was inducted into the International Marathon Swimming Association.

He was made a Chevalier in the Ordre national du Québec in 2001.

Widely recognized and admired in Canada, in 2008 a pro-beach group in Quebec City known as La Societe des Gens de Baignade proposed naming a downtown Quebec Beach at the Louise Basin Wharf, the "Jacques Amyot Park and Beach." The project hoped to improve environmental protection and offer better public use of an area then used to park private yachts.

Death Amyot stayed in good condition throughout his life which may have accounted for his longetivity. On the morning of 7 September 2018, it was reported that Amyot died overnight of cancer at age 93. He had worked in Quebec City as an industrial draftsman. He had been married to Annie Leclerc and had had four children.