Thibault Giroud

Last updated

Thibault Giroud
Personal information
Birth nameThibault Giroud
Born (1974-03-09) 9 March 1974 (age 50)
Grenoble, Isère,
Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes, France
Education CBUL, Lecturer[ citation needed ]
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight98 kg (216 lb; 15 st 6 lb)
Sport
Sport
Now coachingRugby union (2002-)
Football career
Career information
Position(s) Running back
Career history
As player
1991-1992 Grenoble Centaurs  [ fr ]
1992-1993 France
1993-1994Victoria Bills
1994-1995 Munich Thunder  [ de ]
1995-1996 Amsterdam
1996-1997 Barcelona
Rugby union career
Position(s) Wing
Amateur team(s)
YearsTeamApps(Points)
2002-03 Leopards ()
Senior career
YearsTeamApps(Points)
2003-04 Saracens ()
Coaching career
YearsTeam
2002-03 Cats (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
2003-04 Saracens (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
2004-05 Pau (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
2009-14 Biarritz Olympique (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
2016-17 Glasgow Warriors (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
2017-19 Toulon (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
2019- France (Performance Director)
Rugby league career
Coaching information
Club
YearsTeamGmsWDLW%
20052007 Harlequins RL (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
20072009 Celtic Crusaders (Strength & Conditioning Coach)
Total0000

Thibault Giroud (born 9 March 1974 in Grenoble, France) is a French rugby union coach working as the Performance Director for the French national team. [1] He was previously a strength and conditioning coach for Glasgow Warriors. [2] He previously played for NFL Europe (American football) as a Running Back; trained as a Sprinter; as an Olympic Bobsleigher; then a rugby union player and now strength & conditioning coach with various rugby teams.

Contents

Athletic career

Skiing

Giroud grew up in Biarritz where his first love was skiing. He stated: "I was skiing competitions, slalom, downhill, but it was expensive." [3]

American football

In adolescence, Giroud became interested in American football which was then gaining a foothold in Europe. New teams were being created.

Spotted by a scout of Dartmouth College at a track meeting at Grenoble, Giroud got a scholarship and was drafted by the New York Jets, although he did not play in the NFL in America. [4]

Back in France, Thibault played for Grenoble Centaurs and was then called up by the French international side. [3]

He moved to Canada to play for the Victoria Bills in Quebec. He stayed in North America for 18 months. [3]

He returned to Europe to play in the NFL Europe from 1995 to 1997. [5] He played for Munich Thunder. That club folded after one year and then Giroud moved to play for Amsterdam Crusaders [5] and the Barcelona Dragons. [3]

Bob sleigh

Giroud moved back to winter sports after the American Football boom in Europe subsided in 1997. A chance meeting with Prince Albert, of Monaco - a noted sportsman and veteran of the Winter Olympics - convinced him to try out for the Monaco bob sleigh team. From 1998 to 2002 he switched to the French team as a bob sleigher, the culmination of which was being part of the 2002 France Winter Olympic Squad and their 4-man team entry to the Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, USA in 2002. [3]

Sprinting

That same year, 2002, provided another chance meeting with Namibian sprinter Frankie Fredericks takes Giroud into the world of sprinting. Giroud was marked as running 100 metres in 10.53 seconds. [4]

Rugby Union

Through Fredericks, Thibault first helped train the Namibia national rugby union team. [6]

In 2003, Giroud was to meet Andre Markgraaff, the former Springboks coach, who convinced him to give rugby union a try as a player. From Markgraaf he is introduced to Jean-Patrick Mourenon, manager of the South African rugby side Leopards and he joins his side as a Wing. He also starts as a training coach with the Lions (then known as the Cats). [4]

His strength and speed were noted by Saracens who signed him both as a wing and as a strength and conditioning coach for season 2003-04. This was to be the end of his playing career and from then onwards he became a full-time coach.

Coaching career

He moved back to France to Pau who recruited him as a strength and conditioning coach in 2004.

Rugby League

Giroud then moved to rugby league first with Harlequins, now London Broncos, from 2005 - and then onto the Celtic Crusaders in Wales at the start of 2007. [4]

Rugby Union

Moving back to rugby union, Thibault signed for Biarritz Olympique. He stayed there for five seasons.

Consulting and Academic work

Thibault lectured at the Claude Bernard University of Lyon in France. He taught 'Intervening in the Physical Preparation in collective sports' which is a European Diploma (DUEPP).[ citation needed ]

In 2014, he started consulting for Addalyst High Performance Sports Services in Cleveland Ohio, USA. He also advises for Journal L'équipe, the French sports newspaper. He then moved to the Sports consultant firm The Athlete Factory as a Senior Strength and Conditioning Coach [6]

In 2015, he was the co-author of the paper: Strategies to maintain body temperature and physical performance in professional rugby union players.[ citation needed ]

Glasgow Warriors

On 15 June 2016 it was announced that Giroud had secured a two-year deal to be a Strength and Conditioning Coach at Glasgow Warriors. [2]

Toulon

Giroud left the Warriors in the summer of 2017 to move back to France with Toulon. [1]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bobsleigh</span> Olympic team winter sport

Bobsleigh or bobsled is a winter sport in which teams of 2 to 4 athletes make timed runs down narrow, twisting, banked, iced tracks in a gravity-powered sleigh. International bobsleigh competitions are governed by the International Bobsleigh and Skeleton Federation.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1968 Winter Olympics</span> Multi-sport event in Grenoble, France

The 1968 Winter Olympics, officially known as the X Olympic Winter Games, were a winter multi-sport event held from 6 to 18 February 1968 in Grenoble, France. Thirty-seven countries participated.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Biarritz Olympique</span> Rugby team

Biarritz Olympique Pays Basque, usually known simply as Biarritz, is a French professional rugby union team based in the Basque city of Biarritz, Nouvelle-Aquitaine which competes in the Pro D2, the second division of French rugby. Biarritz plays its home matches at the Parc des Sports Aguiléra, which is a multi-use stadium in Biarritz and which has a capacity of around 13,500 people, though for games that need a larger capacity, Biarritz may play at the Estadio Anoeta in San Sebastián. Biarritz play in red and white colours. Biarritz won a number of major honors, including the French championship on five occasions.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Eddie O'Sullivan</span> Rugby player

Eddie O'Sullivan is an Irish rugby union coach, player and a former Gaelic footballer. He is a former head coach of Buccaneers RFC the United States national rugby union team and of the Ireland national rugby union team. He was head coach of Biarritz Olympique, who play in the second tier of France, until October 2015.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Gonzalo Quesada</span> Argentine rugby player

Gonzalo Quesada is an Argentine rugby former player and current coach, who presently works as head coach for the Italy national rugby union team.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Jamaica at the 1988 Winter Olympics</span> Sporting event delegation

Jamaica competed in the Winter Olympic Games for the first time at the 1988 Winter Olympics in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. They competed in one sport, Bobsledding, in both the two-man and four-man events and finished outside the medal places in both competitions. Athletes were recruited from the Jamaica Defence Force, which saw Dudley Stokes, Devon Harris, and Michael White become the first members of the team. Caswell Allen was the fourth man, but was injured prior to the start of the Olympics and was replaced by Chris Stokes, who was only in Canada to support his brother and new teammate Dudley.

Petru Vladimir Bălan is a Romanian retired rugby union footballer who played as a prop.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Shaun Sowerby</span> Rugby player

Shaun Sowerby is a South African rugby union player and went to Sasolburg highschool. He is currently a forwards coach for Biarritz Rugby in the top French rugby competition, the Top 14. Prior to coaching Biarritz, he had a two-year spell coaching at Montpellier Hérault, having finished his playing career at the Stade Ernest-Wallon for Stade Toulousain. Before that he turned out for Stade Français Paris, who he moved to from the Sharks in South Africa.

Jason Wing is a British bobsledder who competed in the mid-1990s.

Robert Hargan Storey is a Canadian bobsledder who competed from the mid-1960s to the early 1970s who later became a businessman and chairman of two communication companies in Canada. Storey served as fourth president of the Fédération Internationale de Bobsleigh et de Tobogganing from 1994 to 2010, and was instrumental in Vancouver being awarded the 2010 Winter Olympics. He went on to marry Catherine Storey and they had three children.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scotstoun Stadium</span> Sports venue in Glasgow, Scotland

Scotstoun Stadium is an athletics and rugby union stadium in Scotstoun, an area in the West End of Glasgow, Scotland.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emmanuel Ngom Priso</span>

Emmanuel Edouard Etienne Ngom Priso is a Cameroonian-born French naturalized athlete specialising in the sprinting events. Most of his successes came in the 4 x 100 metres relay. On February 20, 2009, he became French indoor champion in the 60m in 6.63, ahead of Christophe Lemaitre.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">James Hart (rugby union)</span> Irish rugby union player

James Hart is an Irish rugby union player who currently plays for French Rugby Pro D2 side Biarritz. He plays as a scrum-half.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Alipate Ratini</span> Rugby player

Ratu Alipate Ratini in Namosi, Suva is a Fijian rugby union and rugby league footballer. He played wing for Fiji and previously for French Top 14 side Grenoble. He is also a former high school sprint champion with a time of 10.7secs in the 100m. In January 2016, he signed for another Top 14 side, La Rochelle. He signed for Stade Francais at the end of that season.

During the 2016–17 season, the Glasgow Warriors competed in the Guinness Pro12 and the European Champions Cup. It was the team's last season under head coach Gregor Townsend. Due to flooding of its grass pitch, an artificial-turf surface was installed at Scotstoun Stadium.

Oliver G.J.T. Jager is an Irish rugby union player who currently plays as a prop for Munster. Previously he represented Canterbury in New Zealand's domestic Mitre 10 Cup and the Crusaders in the international Super Rugby competition. In November 2023, he announced that he was joining Munster Rugby from 1 December 2023. Jager made his international debut for Ireland on 24 February 2024 coming on as a replacement in the Six Nations match against Wales.

George Petrakos is a rugby union strength and conditioning coach with Italy.

Rhys Dacre is a New Zealand sportsman. He was a sprinter, winning the New Zealand 100-metre title in 1985, before becoming the first New Zealander to gain an American football scholarship to an American university. He subsequently represented New Zealand in the four-man bobsleigh at the 1988 Winter Olympics.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Romania national bobsleigh team</span> International bobsledding team

The Romanian national bobsleigh team represents Romania in international bobsledding competitions.

References

  1. 1 2 "Thibault Giroud LinkedIn Profile".
  2. 1 2 "Un Français chez les Warriors".
  3. 1 2 3 4 5 "Thibault Giroud, globetrotter sports". 28 April 2010.
  4. 1 2 3 4 Administrator, walesonline (11 January 2007). "Rugby: Crusaders' new coach could be just the ticket".
  5. 1 2 Wilson, Andy (7 February 2006). "Rugby league: From NY Jets to Harlequins via Olympic bronze in the bobsleigh". The Guardian.
  6. 1 2 "THE AF TEAM - THE ATHLETE FACTORY".