Jacques Rousseau (athlete)

Jacques Rousseau ( born March 10, 1951 in Pointe -à- Pitre, Guadeloupe ) is a French former track and field athlete. At a height of 1.86 m his competition weight was 76 kg.

With 19 years Jacques Rousseau took up at the European Championships 1971 in Helsinki. With 7.56 meters, he finished in eleventh place in the long jump. At the Olympic Games in Munich in 1972, he jumped 7.65 meters and finished tenth. This rank he finished also at the European Championships 1974 in Rome. Despite, or because of too much tailwind he just jumped 7.58 meters.

In the European Indoor Championships 1975 in Katowice Rousseau won with 7.94 meters, his first title. A year later at the European Indoor Championships in Munich in 1976, he defended his title with 7.90 meters successfully. On June 26, 1976, he jumped at the French Championships in Lille with 8.26 meters national record. This width should remain his personal best.

At the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal, he traveled as a medal candidate. In the finals, jumped five Springer eight meters and on, with their four best jump in first attempt demonstrated. After the first trial, the Americans Arnie Robinson led with 8.35 meters and 8.11 meters in front of Randy Williams with Rousseau and the Brazilian João Carlos de Oliveira, both of which had landed at 8.00 meters. In the fourth experiment Frank Wartenberg jumped from the GDR 8.02 meters. Rouseau placed thanks to the better second-best distance fourth from Oliveira, but missed bronze by two centimeters.

At the European Championships 1978 in Prague Rousseau then won a title in the open air. With 8.18 meters, he won before the Yugoslavs Nenad Stekić with 8.12 meters.