Louis Vuitton has named French international rugby star Antoine Dupont to be its sporting ambassador for this summer’s Olympics Games in Paris.
Dupont, one of the most outstanding rugby players of his generation, will participate in the Rugby Sevens for France, the third time the competition has been part of the Olympics. The first was in Rio in 2016.
He will also become a member of the family of LVMH, the conglomerate that controls Vuitton, making Dupont one of an elite group of athletes known as Artisans of All Victories, receiving direct support from the group.
“As part of the partnership between LVMH and Paris 2024, LVMH provides direct support ahead of the Olympic and Paralympic Games Paris 2024 for athletes whose outstanding achievements make them Artisans of All Victories. The Group is proud to announce that Antoine Dupont, member of the French national rugby union team – and now also a member of the Olympic French rugby sevens team, a sport on the Paris 2024 Olympic program – has joined the LVMH family with Louis Vuitton,” LVMH said in a release.
The 27-year-old Dupont has already had a storied career; winning the Six Nations Championship for France in 2021; and for his club Toulouse, the European Champions Cup in 2021 and three Top 14 French championships. Known for his steely determination, remarkable strength, subtle shifts of balance and electric acceleration, Dupont has been capped for France over 50 times.
LVMH is a major partner and sponsor of the Paris Olympics, scheduled to run from July 26 to August 11 this summer, with a corporate commitment believed to be in excess of €100, while Vuitton has long been noted for creating the trunks of major global sporting trophies.
After a disappointing Rugby World Cup for France in autumn 2023, when the national team was eliminated by the eventual winners South Africa in the quarter finals, Dupont announced his plan to join the Olympic French rugby sevens team preparing for the Paris 2024 Games, aiming to win a first Olympic medal. Antoine also recently won the Los Angeles Sevens tournament with the French national team.
Dupont is the sixth athlete to join the LVMH family, alongside swimmer Léon Marchand, five-time world champion and record-holder in the 400-meter individual medley; Mélanie de Jesus dos Santos, four-time European champion in artistic gymnastics; fencer Enzo Lefort, gold medalist in team men’s foil fencing at the Tokyo 2021 Olympic Games and individual men’s foil world champion in 2019 and 2022; Pauline Déroulède, triple champion of France in wheelchair tennis, and double Paralympic medalist in para-cycling Marie Patouillet.
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