Thierry Gueorgiou

Gueorgiou was born in St. Étienne, France in 1979.^[2] Gueorgiou stated in an interview that his interest in being a World Champion in Orienteering started when he spectated the 1987 World Orienteering Championships, held in Gérardmer, which was the first time the World Championships was held in France. Gueorgiou was 8 years old at the time.^[3][6] In 1991, Gueorgiou won his age category at the spectator races for the 1991 World Orienteering Championships in Czechoslovakia.^[6]

Running for Fédération Française de Course d'Orientation, Gueorgiou made his debut at the 1995 Junior World Orienteering Championships in Denmark at the age of 16, coming 60th in the Short distance and 10th in the relay.^[7] He would finish his junior career by achieving two silver medals and two bronze medals in the 1998 and 1999 Junior World Championships. Gueorgiou made his senior international debut at the 1997 World Orienteering Championships in Grimstad, Norway, at the age of 18.

After his Debut in 1997, it took Gueorgiou 6 years to achieve his first medal. Gueorgiou has said that this was his hardest period in orienteering. In 2001 Gueorgiou came 19th in the Short distance after a near perfect run, which led him to make changes to his technique that would eventually lead him to multiple world championship victories.^[8]

His breakthrough season came in 2003, where he won his first gold medal in the Middle Distance. Gueorgiou has since won all 3 individual disciplines, winning the Sprint Distance for the first time in Kyiv in 2007 and the Long Distance for the first time in 2011. Gueorgiou won his most recent Long Distance gold medal in 2015, winning the gold in the Long Distance at Glen Affric ahead of Daniel Hubmann and Olav Lundanes. Thierry has won 14 gold medals at world championships.

Gueorgiou announced his retirement from international competition after the 2017 World Orienteering Championships in Estonia, where he won his final gold medal in the Middle Distance.^[9]

Gueorgiou was a member of the French relay team at WOC 2008 in Olomouc, Czech Republic. While running in a clear lead on the third leg, he suffered a bee sting on the back of his tongue. He left the course to go directly to the finish, where he collapsed, barely able to breathe. He was transported by helicopter to a hospital.^[10][11]

At WOC 2009 in Miskolc, Hungary, during the last leg of the relay race Gueorgiou, Anders Nordberg (Norway), and Michal Smola (Czech Republic) were close behind the lead runner, Martin Johansson (Sweden), when Johansson suffered a 12 cm deep penetrating trauma from a stick in his right thigh. While Nordberg ran for help, Gueorgiou and Smola stayed with Johansson. Gueorgiou pulled out the stick, then applied compression to the wound using his own shirt and GPS tracking harness. Gueorgiou and Smola then carried Johansson to a road. Nordberg brought a physician there.^[12][13][14]

Gueorgiou has stated in interviews that his style is "Full speed, no mistakes".^[8] Gueorgiou is noted for his incredible map- reading, and is frequently named as "The King of Middle Distance" for his multiple victories at world championships. Alongside his victories in Classic foot orienteering, Gueorgiou was the 2006 European champion in trail orienteering.^[2]

Gueorgiou's nickname is Tero and he is commonly known as Tero Kettunen in Finland and Terje Gundersen in Norway.^[12] He currently lives in Uppsala, Sweden with his partner elite orienteer Annika Billstam. Gueorgiou and Billstam met in 2011 when Gueorgiou was asked to speak to members of the Swedish orienteering team.^[14] Gueorgiou has two children with Billstam, named Ines and Leon.^[15] His brother, Remi Gueorgiou, also competed for France in Orienteering, coming 36th in the Middle Distance at the 2004 World Orienteering Championships (won by Thierry). Remi was born in 1975.^[16]

Gueorgiou runs for two orienteering clubs, the French NO St-Etienne^[17] and the Finnish Kalevan Rasti.^[2] With Kalevan Rasti he has won the Jukola Relay five times (2004, 2005, 2007, 2013 and 2014).