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The story of an Olympic athlete who stayed up all night by his wife’s side during childbirth and then competed in the event has become a hot topic. Although he did not win a medal at the Olympics, he celebrated a personal best record.

CNN and the French daily Lib?ration reported on June 1 (local time) the story of Orl?ans Quignon (31, France), who participated in the men’s 20km racewalking event at the Paris Olympics.

Quignon rushed to the hospital around 10 p.m. the day before the final. His wife went into labor earlier than expected. She safely gave birth to their daughter Charlie around 2 a.m. while Quignon watched over her.

Orl?ans Quinion celebrating as he crosses the finish line [Image source=Captured from the French Athletics Federation website]

Afterwards, Quignon managed to get only about 30 minutes of sleep before taking a taxi to the stadium to compete in the final held at 8 a.m. He said, “Everything went well and I couldn’t be happier. The baby with turquoise eyes is the most beautiful, and my wife is healthy. That’s the most important thing.”

Quignon finished 9th in the race, not winning a medal, but set a personal best time of 1 hour 19 minutes 56 seconds. Upon crossing the finish line, he celebrated by making the ‘thumb sucking’ pose often done by infants to commemorate his newborn daughter.

He said, “I used to say, ‘If I can just finish the Olympic race well, I could die without regrets,’ but now that I have a young daughter, I can’t say that anymore,” and smiled, “I will take good care of my daughter and give her the best life possible.”

CNN commented, “The fact that he placed in the top 10 at an international competition without sleep while staying by his wife’s side during childbirth shows a father’s love and the Olympic spirit.”

They added with a witty encouragement, “Now that Quignon has just had a baby, he’d better get used to sleepless nights ahead.”