ENGLISH TEXTS
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WHO IS THE STRONGEST ?
By Serge Okey
From Jesse Owens to Thomas Voeckler , several athletes have faced off against man ’ s greatest conquest , the horse . These duels have been epic , though the outcome is usually quite predictable . Those were the good old days , the era when Léon Zitrone commented on the Tiercé , and Yves Mourousi hosted Bellino II as a guest star on his 1pm news broadcast . A wilder time , filled with quirky , extravagant stunts of all kinds . July 13 , 1977 , at the Amiens racecourse . An unlikely duel took place between a horse and a cyclist . “ A match with undeniable style ,” teased renowned PPDA on Antenne 2 ’ s 8pm news . The lineup was remarkable . On the left , Freddy Maertens , reigning world road cycling champion and recent winner of the Vuelta a España . On the right , Fakir du Vivier , a six-year-old trotter with seven Group 1 victories , future elite stallion and one of the best trotters of his generation . At the microphone , Thierry Roland noted that “ the Petit Saint- Jean racecourse had never seen such a crowd .” The improbable duel became a major event . Displaying great sportsmanship , the
Belgian cyclist declined Pierre-Désiré Allaire ’ s offer to give him a head start . Unsurprisingly , Alain Delon ’ s horse dominated on the cinder track , while Maertens struggled on the unfamiliar surface . The horse crossed the finish line three-tenths of a second ahead , without even pushing itself to the limit . History has seen several such duels , and each time , man ’ s greatest conquest has triumphed over the “ little queen ” ( French slang for the bicycle ). The same happened when Othello Bourbon , ridden by Éric Raffin , raced against Thomas Voeckler in Les Sables-d ’ Olonne in 2011 , or when Timoko outran Romain Guillemois on the grass track in Langon , Gironde , in 2017 .
“ The Race of the Century ” with Jesse Owens Long before these events , Jesse Owens , the hero of the 1936 Berlin Olympics , leveraged his four gold medals in various exhibition challenges against cars , motorcycles , trucks and even horses . His most famous such race , dubbed “ the race of the century ,” took place in Havana , Cuba , around Christmas 1936 . Starting with a 40- yard head start , Owens defeated his equine competitor , Julio McCaw , by about 20 yards . However , these spectacles were born out of a darker reality - Jesse Owens , as a Black athlete , was forced into such exhibition matches to earn $ 2,000 per race , highlighting the racial inequalities of the era .
Man vs Horse Marathon Far from the racetracks , a unique tradition has taken place since the 1980s , the Man vs . Horse Marathon . Held annually in Llanwrtyd Wells , Wales , it pits long-distance runners against horses over a grueling 35 to 39 km course . Last year , 536 runners competed against 139 horses . In 43 editions , humans have only won four times , always in extreme heat conditions . Even at peak speed , the gap between a horse and a human is vast . When Usain Bolt reaches a top speed of 44.72 km / h , Winning Brew , the fastest racehorse in history , recorded 71 km / h in the Guinness Book . French sprinter Daniel Sangouma learned this the hard way . In 1990 , the top French sprinter of the time raced against Jappeloup , the legendary show-jumping horse , and his rider Pierre Durand over 80 meters . Two rounds , two defeats , broadcast live on France 2 ’ s news program .
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