Pierre Edmond Payssé (21 November 1873 – 5 December 1938) was a French gymnast and teacher. He won two gold medals at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece, and later worked to increase participation in women's sports.

Pierre Payssé
Black and white photo of an upside-down man with one hand on a bar and his other hand on his leg
Pierre Payssé on parallel bars in 1909
Personal information
Born(1873-11-21)21 November 1873
Paris, France
Died5 December 1938(1938-12-05) (aged 65)[1]
Corbeil-Essonnes, France
Medal record
Gymnastics
Representing  FRA
World Artistic Gymnastics Championships
Gold medal – first place 1905 Bordeaux Team all-around
Silver medal – second place 1903 Antwerp Horizontal bar
Bronze medal – third place 1905 Bordeaux Horizontal bar
Bronze medal – third place 1905 Bordeaux Parallel bars
Intercalated Games
Gold medal – first place 1906 Athens All-around, 5 events
Gold medal – first place 1906 Athens All-around, 6 events

Gymnastics career

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At the 1900 Summer Olympics in Paris, France, Payssé competed in the Men's all-around gymnastic event, a 16-event competition that was the only gymnastics event at the Games. He finished fourth, behind fellow Frenchmen Gustave Sandras, Noël Bas and Lucien Démanet.[2] At the 1903 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Payssé came joint second with Charles van Hulle [no] and Jules Lecoutre in the horizontal bar event.[3] At the 1905 World Artistic Gymnastics Championships, Payssé was part of the French team that won the men's team all-around event. He came third in the individual horizontal bar and parallel bars events.[3]

Payssé won both the Individual all-around, 5 events and Individual all-around, 6 events competitions at the 1906 Intercalated Games in Athens, Greece.[4] This made him one of only 16 people to win two or more gold medals at the Games.[4] In the same year, Payssé became world champion at the horizontal bar event.[5]

Teaching career

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Payssé later worked as a teacher.[5] In 1912, he helped to set up Fémina Sport.[6][7] Fémina Sports started out as a gymnastics club, but later focused on other sports. Payssé found a permanent location for the club in 1918.[8] In 1915, Fémina Sports competed in France's first all-female interclub athletics competition.[7] In 1917, Payssé helped organise football matches for women's football team Fémina Sports Paris against male opposition.[5] The matches were played for six months until they were blocked by the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques, who banned men's football teams in their union from playing women's football teams.[5] In December 1917, Payssé helped to set up the Fédération des Sociétés Féminines Sportives de France.[7][9]

References

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  1. ^ Pierre Payssé at Olympedia
  2. ^ Mallon, Bill (1998). The 1900 Olympic Games, Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland & Company. ISBN 0-7864-0378-0.
  3. ^ a b 125th Anniversary - The story goes on... FIG. International Gymnastics Federation. 2005. p. 61.
  4. ^ a b Mallon, Bill (February 2009). The 1906 Olympic Games: Results for All Competitors in All Events, with Commentary. McFarland & Company. pp. 28, 100–101. ISBN 9781476609515. Retrieved 9 November 2018.
  5. ^ a b c d Scraton, Sheila; Magee, Jonathan; Caldwell, Jayne; Liston, Katie (January 2008). Women, Football and Europe: Histories, Equity and Experience. Meyer & Meyer Verlag. p. 29. ISBN 9781841262253.
  6. ^ Bauer, Thomas (2011). La Sportive dans la littérature française des Années folles (in French). Presses Univ. Septentrion. pp. 32–33. ISBN 9782757401736.
  7. ^ a b c Hutchingon, Andrew Boyd (January 2018). The Complete History of Cross-Country Running: From the Nineteenth Century to the Present Day. Skyhorse Publishing. ISBN 9781631440779.
  8. ^ "Fémina Sports" (in French). Fémina Sports. Retrieved 10 November 2018.
  9. ^ Park, Roberta J; Vertinsky, Patricia (September 2013). Women, Sport, Society: Further Reflections, Reaffirming Mary Wollstonecraft. Routledge. p. 53. ISBN 9781317985808.
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