Charles Poulenard

Charles Poulenard competed for a number of Parisian clubs, and in 1912 represented the Club Athlétique de la Société Générale (CASG). He became French champion in the 1,500 (1906), 400 m hurdles (1912), and 400 metres flat (1913), adding four podiums in the 800 m and 400 m. At the 1912 Olympic Games he failed to advance to the second round in the 200 m and 800 m but reached the semi-final of the 400 m. His best result was the silver medal in the 4x400 metres relay behind the United States, who won in world record time. In 3:20.7 the French team, Charles Lelong, Robert Schürrer, Pierre Failliot and Charles Poulenard, set the first official national record. Between 1906 and 1919 Poulenard represented France four times in international meetings.

In 1913, Poulenard married Jeanne Blanche Hitter and they had two children. Between the wars, at the Stade français club, he coached, amongst others, Jules Ladoumègue, Olympic silver medallist and breaker of six world records over distances ranging from 1,000 m to 2,000 m in 1930-1931, and Sera Martin, a two-times Olympic finalist and world record holder in the 800 m (1:56.6 in 1928) and the 1,000 m (2:26.8 in 1926). At the 1924 Paris Olympics, Poulenard acted as an athletics judge and starter. He published the book La Course à pied : vitesse et haies (Running: sprinting and hurdles) in 1930.

Personal Bests: 200 – 22.8 (1912); 400 - 50.0e (1908); 800 - 1:57.6e (1912).