Fabien Gilot

Who is Fabien Gilot?

Fabien Gilot is an Olympic swimmer from France. He swam for France at the 2008 Olympics, where he was part of France's silver medal winning 4×100m freestyle relay. In the London 2012 Summer Olympics he again swam for France and, this time claiming gold in the Men's 4 × 100 metre freestyle relay. In his victory wave, Gilot exposed an underarm tattoo with three Hebrew words meaning "I am nothing without them". He explained that this was a tribute to his grandmother's Jewish husband, an Auschwitz survivor. Fabien said that the quote 'I am nothing without them' has a very special meaning for him, representing his family and three stars – one for each of his brothers, as well as for his Olympic rings. He chose to express his feelings towards his family in Hebrew as a gesture to honor Max Goldschmidt, his maternal grandmother's partner who was "a grandfather in every way." Max died in 2012, but got to see his grandson's tattoo and his swimming achievements, although not his Olympic gold.