Jacques Cariou

Jacques Cariou (23 September 1870 – 7 October 1931) was a French show jumping champion and military officer. Cariou participated at the 1912 Summer Olympics held in Stockholm, where he won a gold medal in the individual jumping, a silver medal in team jumping with the horse Mignon, and a bronze medal in individual three-day eventing with the horse Cocotte.

Biography Cariou was born in 1870 in Peumerit, Brittany. Cariou spent his early years as a teacher and horsemanship instructor, Early in his military years, he was awarded France's Order of Agricultural Merit as well as a foreign award from Belgium, but it is not known how he came to be awarded these honors.

World War 1 After the Olympics, he returned to the Army. France shortly would become embroiled in World War I. In 1915, he led a battalion in the Battle of Champagne where he was gassed. His actions as the leader of his unit would later earn him a knighthood of the Legion of Honour.

Later life He remained with the Army and would later be honored as an officer of the Legion of Honour for his later work as a military officer.

Legacy Prior to the 2024 Summer Olympic Games in Paris, Cariou's hometown of Peumerit honored their former Olympic champion with a commemorative plaque in the town center, and named the local sports arena after him.

Honors

Order of Agricultural Merit, 21 January 1910 Order of the Crown (Belgium), 1910 Officer of the Legion of Honour, March 7, 1924.