Coste, who turned 100 on in February, won a track cycling Olympic title in the team pursuit with Pierre Adam, Serge Blusson and Fernand Decanali.
On his awards cabinet, there are also the 1949 Grand Prix des Nations, a 140-km time trial in which he beat Italian Fausto Coppi, a Tour de France and Giro d’Italia champion.
Coste’s gold medal is framed along with others, notably a medal he received from then President Vincent Auriol, in a room of his apartment in the Paris suburbs.
Coste, who was born in 1924 – the last time Paris hosted the Summer Olympics – needs a walker to move around, but his memory is fresh.
“We climbed on the podium, a small podium. We were given the medal – but the medal was put in a display box, not around our necks like now,” he said.
“Then, we waited for a bit and, after a while, we were told: ‘You won’t hear the Marseillaise (French national anthem), we couldn’t find the record.’ (We were) a little disappointed, but ultimately, our goal was the gold medal.”
“My mother used to say, when I was around twelve years old, that I said that I would either be a general or an Olympic champion. I chose to be an Olympic champion… I was the happiest of riders at that moment.”
The Games, for Coste and others, was an enchanted break at a time when “we still had food ration tickets” after World War II.
“These were the first post-war Games. London was still scarred by the bombings. You cannot compare these with nowadays. There was no television in my time,” said Coste.
Coste should have been awarded the Legion d’Honneur – the highest honour in France – but an oversight meant that he only received it two years ago.
He is also set to carry the Olympic torch although he appears quite stressed by the prospect.
“I will try to do it despite my knee disability,” he said. “It is a great honour.”
