Camille Muffat (French pronunciation: [ka.mij myfa]; 28 October 1989 – 9 March 2015) was a French swimmer and three-time Olympic medalist who specialised in the individual medley and the free style events. Her career spanned from 2005 to 2014.
At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, she won gold in the 400-metre freestyle, silver in the 200-metre freestyle and bronze in the 4×200-metre freestyle relay, becoming the fourth French swimmer to win an individual Olympic gold medal. She was also the third French athlete overall to win three Olympic medals at a single edition of the Olympic Games.
She died in the Villa Castelli mid-air helicopter collision, at age 25, during the filming of French TV reality show Dropped for the TF1 network.
Camille Marie Manuella Muffat was born on 28 October 1989 in Nice, to Guy Muffat, a physical therapist, and Laurence, a nurse. She had an older sister, Chloé, and a younger brother, Quentin.
Upon finishing high school, she pursued a degree in economics, during which time she swam under a high-performance athlete studying system. She eventually dropped out of school in order to pursue her swimming career.
Muffat began swimming competitively at Club Olympic Nice Natation, at the age of nine. She initially trained as a medley swimmer and was particularly gifted in the breaststroke and front crawl.
Muffat first rose to prominence in 2005, upon beating fellow Frenchwoman Laure Manaudou in the 200 m individual medley event at the French National Championship, in Nancy, also breaking the French national record, which Manaudou had held.
Only months later, she won gold in the 200 m individual medley event and silver in the 100 m freestyle at the European Junior Championships, held in Budapest, Hungary.
In 2006, she debuted in the senior European Championships by swimming a leg of the 4 × 100 metres freestyle relay for France. A month later, she won four medals, including one gold, at that year's World Junior Championships, in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. In December 2006, she attained her first international podium, at the European Short Course Championships in Helsinki, Finland.
In 2007, for the first time Muffat took part in a World Championship, held in Melbourne, Australia, reaching semifinals in the 400 m medley. At the end of the year, she won her first senior competition, by winning the 200-metre individual medley and taking bronze in the 400-metre individual medley event at the 2007 European Short Course Swimming Championships in Debrecen, Hungary.
In March 2008, Muffat won her first medal as a senior, long-course international event, by taking bronze at the 200-metre individual medley at the European Championships in Eindhoven, Netherlands.
On the first day of the 2008 French national championships, a qualifying event for that year's Olympic Games, Muffat and Joanne Andraca tied in the 400 m individual medley (IM) in a new French record of 4:38.23. Two days later, she won gold at the 200-metre individual medley by breaking Laure Manaudou's French record. At the end of competition, Muffat had qualified for the 200- and the 400-metre individual medley events at the Olympics, and clinched a berth in the French team for the 4 × 200 metre freestyle relay.
At the 2008 Summer Olympics, however, Muffat only qualified for the final of the relay, where the team finished fifth.
Later, at the 2008 European Short Course Championships, held in Rijeka, Muffat finished second in the 400-metre freestyle, bested by her countrywoman and former Olympic relay teammate, Coralie Balmy. On both the 200- and 400-metre individual medley events, she finished in fifth place.
At the 2009 French national championships, Muffat set a new French record in the 200 m IM (2:09.34). At that year's World Championships, in Rome, she finished 7th in the 200 m individual medley final, and takes part in the French team that finished eighth in the 4 × 200 m freestyle relay final.
At the 2010 French Championship, in Saint-Raphäel, she won gold in both the 200 m individual medley event and the 400 m individual medley event, finishing second to Coralie Balmy in the 200 m freestyle event. At the European Championships in Budapest, Muffat arrived as the favourite to take gold at the 200 m individual medley, declaring to the press that the gold medal is her objective in that event. However, after leading the field into the third discipline of the medley, the breaststroke, she was overtaken by Hungarian Katinka Hosszú, causing Muffat to lose momentum and finish fourth in the event. On the same day, the French 4 × 200 m freestyle relay team also finishes second in the final when Muffat, who was anchoring the French relay, got overtaken by another Hungarian swimmer, Evelyn Verrasztó. Two days later, she would also finish 4th in the 200 m freestyle event, which was won by Italian swimmer Federica Pellegrini.
Following her disappointing results, her coach, Fabrice Pellerin, urged Muffat to make a choice between the medley events and the freestyle events. Choosing the latter, Muffat improved her results in freestyle swimming, taking first place in all distances (50 m, 100 m, 200 m and 400 m) at the following French Championships, at Chartre, where she also broke the French record in the 100 m freestyle event.
A month later, at the 2010 World Short Course Championships in Dubai, Muffat would take her first world title, by winning the 200 m freestyle event, defeating Katie Hoff of the United States and Kylie Palmer of Australia. Swimming with the French 4 × 200 m freestyle relay, she also took a bronze medal from the event.