Photo: Panini / Public domain (source: Wikimedia Commons)
My Take
Thierry Rey fascinates me as a man who conquered two very different arenas. Olympic and world judo champion at extra-lightweight in Moscow 1980, then a reinvention as a radio personality, capped by an Officer of the Legion of Honour. That trajectory tells me he understood something most athletes never grasp: a champion's discipline transfers far beyond the mat. Born in Belgium yet decorated by France, father to a child with a former president's daughter, his life resists any tidy summary. I respect people whose stories refuse to fit a single label, and Rey, the fighter turned broadcaster, is precisely that rare, multi-chaptered kind of figure.
Overview
Thierry Rey (born 1 June 1959) is a French judoka, world and olympic champion. He won a gold medal in the extra lightweight (–60 kg) division at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow. He is the father of Martin Rey-Chirac, as a result of a relation with Claude Chirac, a daughter of late president Jacques Chirac.
Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.
1. Profile
- Name (English)
- Thierry Rey
- Name (Japanese)
- ティエリー・レイ
- Reading
- てぃえりー・れい
- Born
- June 1, 1959 (age 67)
- Zodiac / Chinese zodiac
- Gemini / Boar
- Origin
- Veurne, West Flanders, Belgium
- Blood type
- Private
- Height
- 172 cm
- Agency
- Private
- Occupation
- judoka / radio personality
2. Background
- Elementary school
- Private
- Junior high
- Private
- High school
- Private
- University
- Private
Awards & achievements
- 2015 Officer of the Legion of Honour
- 1993 Knight of the Legion of Honour
- 1984 Officer of the National Order of Merit
- 1980 Medal of youth, sports and community involvement
3. Relationships
- Spouse
- Private
- Children
- Private
- Parents
- Private
- Siblings
- Private
4. Personality
Motto
Private
6. Links
Judoka — see all → · Radio personality — see all → · More people from Belgium →
7. About this entry
Tags
- Last updated
- 2026-06-02
Facts are limited to publicly available information up to 2024; non-public items are marked "Private / Unknown". English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.