Jacques Goddet

Desgrange's successor, who ran the Tour for half a century.

Jacques Goddet (21 June 1905 - 15 December 2000) was a French sports journalist and the director of the Tour de France from 1936 to 1986. Born and died in Paris, he was the son of Victor Goddet, co-founder and finance director of L'Auto, the newspaper that organised the first Tour in 1903. He joined his father's paper in 1924, followed his first Tour in 1928, became editor-in-chief of L'Auto in 1931 and covered the 1932 Los Angeles Olympics. When Henri Desgrange became too ill to continue during the 1936 race, Goddet took over the organisation, and he followed every Tour until 1989 except 1932 and 1981. In football he is credited as one of the fathers of the Intercontinental Cup. A memorial to him stands on the Col du Tourmalet.