Olympic silver medallist gymnast Poujade dies at 51

Poujade also took silver on the pommel at the 1994 and 1997 world championships and won both pommel and team gold at the 1998 European championships in St Petersburg.

(File Photo) Eric Poujade in action. | Photo Credit: AFP

French gymnast Eric Poujade, Olympic silver medallist on the pommel horse at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, died last weekend aged 51, the French Gymnastics Federation announced on Wednesday.

Poujade also took silver on the pommel at the 1994 and 1997 world championships and won both pommel and team gold at the 1998 European championships in St Petersburg.

The federation said Poujade had “left his mark on the history of the discipline” but gave no cause of death.

“The world of gymnastics today loses a great champion and an elegant servant”, said federation president, James Blateau.

Poujade took silver in Sydney behind Romania’s Marius Urzica ending a 16-year medal drought for France’s gymnasts at the Olympics -- Philippe Vatuone won bronze in the floor discipline in Los Angeles in 1984.