Anne-Caroline Graffe
PARIS – The third edition of the ‘Night of the World Champions’ took place on Thursday, December 17, 2012 at the headquarters of the French National Olympic and Sports Committee in Paris. In a friendly atmosphere, 182 of the 307 gold champions of last year were honoured. As an Olympic year requires, 21 London Olympics medallists were also present. No less than 39 sport federations were involved, both in Olympic and non-Olympic sports, including disabled sports, military sports and university sport. 9 of 17 WUC champions from 2012 had responded to the joint invitation of FFSU and CNOSF. Invited on the stage of the amphitheatre Pierre de Coubertin alongside Vincent Rognon, National Director of FFSU, taekwondo athlete Anne-Caroline Graffe, WUC Champion in Pocheon (Korea) in May three months before her silver medal at the Olympic in London, told the assembly the pleasure she experiences while participating in university competitions: “Balancing school and high-level sports, is not always easy. It requires commitment, going to school, making school assignments as a “normal” student. It takes discipline and organization skills. It’s good that we can participate in university competitions. It allows us to represent a whole class of athletes who manage to balance studies and high-level sport.” More photos of the evening and all French WUC gold medallists can be found here.
(Source: FFSU)