Charlotte Bonnet
Born Feb. 14, 1995 Charlotte Bonnet is a French swimmer and Olympic bronze medalist. Bonnet competed in the 2012 London Olympics, which was her first Olympic Games at just 17 years old – she’s a versatile freestyler, with the ability to swim anything from the 100 to the 400.
Early Career
Bonnet first made waves at the 2011 European Junior Championships when she led-off the squad that broke the 400m freestyle relay record at just 16 years old. The next year she finished second behind Camille Muffat at the Mare Nostrum series in Monaco.
Camille Muffat
She trained with Camille Muffat in Nice, who tragically died in a helicopter plane crash in Argentina. Muffat was a 2012 London gold medalist, and was one of the city’s most decorated athletes. Bonnet wore a cap with Muffat’s name at the 2014 French Championships.
2012 London Olympics
At just 17 years old Bonnet qualified for her first Olympic Games in 2012, when she competed on the 800m freestyle relay in London. The relay team finished third, winning a bronze, and Bonnet picked up her first Olympic medal.
2013 World Championships
She then competed at the 2013 World Championships in Rome, where she had a noteworthy split on the 800m freestyle relay. She swam the second leg of the relay, holding the lead given to her by Muffat, but the relay ended up touching 3rd for the bronze medal.
2014 Military Swimming Championships
At the 2014 World Military Swimming Championships – a meet that emphasizes “friendship through sport” – Bonnet destroyed the meet record in the 200m freestyle (1:57.99) at 19 years old.
2015 World Championships
At the French Championships Bonnet channeled her emotions into swimming, and won all five of her entered events. She had been developing more versatility throughout the years, and proved it by qualifying for Kazan 2015 in the 200m freestyle, 100m freestyle, 100m breaststroke, and the 200m IM. She ended up swimming the 100 and 200 free in Kazan, where in both she qualified for semi finals but just missed the final heat.
2016 Rio Olympics
Bonnet finished 8th in the 200M freestyle with a time of 1:56.29. She also swam the 100m Free and made it to the semifinals where she finished 7th in her heat, thereby not making the finals. She also swam the 4x200m Free Relay and the 4X100m Medley Relay for France, neither relay making the top 8.
2017 World Championships
Bonnet finished 8th in the 200 free (1:56.62) and 10th (53.77) in the 100 free in Budapest, while France didn’t swim any relays at the meet.
2018 European Championships
Bonnet had a breakout meet at the 2018 Euros, winning her first major international title in the 200 free with a huge personal best of 1:54.95. She also earned another gold in the 4×100 free relay, splitting a monster 52.20, and a bronze in the 100 free individually (53.35).
2019 World Championships
Bonnet finished 12th in the 100 free (53.62) and 7th in the 200 free (1:56.95) in Gwangju. She swam the 3rd leg of the mixed 4×100 free relay (52.87), which touched for 3rd and a bronze medal.
