Following our survey, you chose Alain Bernard as the Azurรฉenne Personality of the Year 2008. A well-deserved success for the swimmer from Antibes. A triple Olympic medalist in Beijing this year (gold in the 100m freestyle, silver in the 4x100m freestyle relay, and bronze in the 50m freestyle), his wave swept everything in its path. Also a double European champion a few months earlier in the 50 and 100 meters, he was also named French Champion of Champions by the daily newspaper L’Equipe. Highly favored, he is also the mascot of the readers of nicepremium.fr, as he leads with 30% of the votes.
The “Shark” precedes Jean-Marie Gustave Le Clรฉzio. JMG collected 20% of your votes. At the end of 2008, to reward his body of work, often inspired by World War II, he won what all writers dream of: the Nobel Prize in Literature.
In third place comes a politician, Christian Estrosi. Difficult to keep pace, swimming-wise, with Alain Bernard, even though he gathered 16% of the votes. Elected as the head of the municipality last April, the new mayor of Nice likely suffered here from his announcement made in early December: a 15% increase in local taxes…
Behind him, we find Frรฉdรฉric Antonetti with 13%. The coach of OGC Nice led his team to eighth place in the Ligue 1 standings last season. In early January, the Gym is also eighth after 19 rounds.
With 9% of the votes, Simone Veil is in fifth position. Her fierce battle to legalize abortion (Veil Law) probably served her poorly, if we go by your comments posted on our site. Nevertheless, she remains in the top list since last November, she was elected to the French Academy before being made a Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor by Nicolas Sarkozy on January 1, 2009.
Next, with 3% of the votes, is the tennis player Gilles Simon, seventh world player at the end of a high-flying 2008 season. The young and promising swimmer, Camille Muffat (19 years old), gets 2% of the votes. She won a bronze medal in the 200m individual medley at the European Championships in a long course in Eindhoven and silver in the 400m individual medley at the European Championships in a short course in Croatia. The sailor Jean-Pierre Dick, forced to abandon on Friday, January 2 in the Vendรฉe Globe, after 54 days of racing, collects 1% of the votes. The same score for Sophie Duez, a member of the Changez d’รจre (PS) list in the last municipal elections. In November 2008, she had created controversy with her approach to the deputy-mayor UMP, Christian Estrosi.
