Thierry Gueorgiou

Thierry Gueorgiou (; born 30 March 1979) is a French orienteer who holds the record for gold medals won at the World Orienteering Championships for a male athlete, with 14 gold medals between 2003 and 2017. Gueorgiou has won more than 20 gold medals in international competitions, including the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) middle distance event a record eight times: 2003–2005, 2007–2009, 2011 and 2017.

In November 2016 it was announced he will become the Sweden national team head coach following his retirement at the 2017 World Championships. From October 2021 he has been the head coach of the Finnish national orienteering team.

Early life Gueorgiou was born in St. Étienne, France in 1979. In 1991, Gueorgiou won his age category at the spectator races for the 1991 World Orienteering Championships in Czechoslovakia. He would finish his junior career by achieving two silver medals and two bronze medals in the 1998 and 1999 Junior World Championships. Gueorgiou made his senior international debut at the 1997 World Orienteering Championships in Grimstad, Norway, at the age of 18.

World Orienteering Championships

After his Debut in 1997, it took Gueorgiou 6 years to achieve his first medal. Gueorgiou has said that this was his hardest period in orienteering. In 2001 Gueorgiou came 19th in the Short distance after a near perfect run, which led him to make changes to his technique that would eventually lead him to multiple world championship victories.

His breakthrough season came in 2003, where he won his first gold medal in the Middle Distance. Gueorgiou has since won all 3 individual disciplines, winning the Sprint Distance for the first time in Kyiv in 2007 and the Long Distance for the first time in 2011. Gueorgiou won his most recent Long Distance gold medal in 2015, winning the gold in the Long Distance at Glen Affric ahead of Daniel Hubmann and Olav Lundanes. Thierry has won 14 gold medals at world championships.

Gueorgiou announced his retirement from international competition after the 2017 World Orienteering Championships in Estonia, where he won his final gold medal in the Middle Distance.

Gueorgiou was a member of the French relay team at WOC 2008 in Olomouc, Czech Republic. While running in a clear lead on the third leg, he suffered a bee sting on the back of his tongue. He left the course to go directly to the finish, where he collapsed, barely able to breathe. He was transported by helicopter to a hospital.

At WOC 2009 in Miskolc, Hungary, during the last leg of the relay race Gueorgiou, Anders Nordberg (Norway), and Michal Smola (Czech Republic) were close behind the lead runner, Martin Johansson (Sweden), when Johansson suffered a 12 cm deep penetrating trauma from a stick in his right thigh. While Nordberg ran for help, Gueorgiou and Smola stayed with Johansson. Gueorgiou pulled out the stick, then applied compression to the wound using his own shirt and GPS tracking harness. Gueorgiou and Smola then carried Johansson to a road. Nordberg brought a physician there. Gueorgiou has two children with Billstam, named Ines and Leon. His brother, Remi Gueorgiou, also competed for France in Orienteering, coming 36th in the Middle Distance at the 2004 World Orienteering Championships (won by Thierry). Remi was born in 1975.

Clubs Gueorgiou runs for two orienteering clubs, the French NO St-Etienne and the Finnish Kalevan Rasti. With Kalevan Rasti he has won the Jukola Relay five times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2013 and 2014).

World Championship results YearAgeLongMiddleSprintRelaySprintRelay 1997 18 — 50 12 1999 20 — 24 12 2001 22 — 18 12 11 2003 24 — 1 3 14 2004 25 — 1 5 7 2005 26 7 1 — 2 2006 27 8 4 — 11 2007 28 — 1 1 6 2008 29 — 1 5 2009 30 2 1 — 25 2010 31 3 3 — 8 2011 32 1 1 — 1 2012 33 — 4 — 5 2013 34 1 2 — 8 2014 35 1 DSQ — 3 — 2015 36 1 7 — — — 2016 37 2 4 — 6 — 2017 38 — 1 — 2 —