Jules Ladoumègue

Jules Ladoumègue was a French middle-distance runner. His greatest success was the silver medal over 1,500 metres at the 1928 Summer Olympics, in a race won by Harri Larva. Ladoumègue also set several world records. On October 5, 1930 he broke Otto Peltzer's 1500 m record by 1.8 seconds to become the first 1,500-metre runner below 3:50 minutes with a time of 3.49.2 in a race in Paris. Three years later the record was broken by Italian Luigi Beccali. Only two weeks later, he set a 1000-metre record at 2:23.6 that stood for eleven years until Rudolf Harbig ran 2:21.5. In October 1931, Ladoumegue became the first French world record holder over the Mile with a time of 4:09.2. In 1955 he published an autobiography, entitled "Dans ma foulée".