Olympic gold medalist. A long-distance runner who was once called "Zatopek's shadow", he won the gold medal for France in the Marathon at the 1956 Melbourne Olympic Games. Born Ali Mimoun Ould Kacha, he was raised in northern French Algeria, served in the French Army during World War II, was wounded at the Battle of Monte Cassino, and began competitive running in 1946. Mimoun won the silver medal in the 10,000 meters at the 1948 London Olympics. At Helsinki in 1952, he won the silver medal in the 5,000 and 10,000-meter distances, finishing behind the legendary Czech Emil Zatopek in both events. He won two gold medals at the 1951 and 1955 Mediterranean Games, took silver as runner-up to Zatopek at the European Games, then prepared to compete in the 1956 Olympic Marathon in Melbourne by running about 20 miles per day. In that event, he ran away from the field at approximately the halfway point and crossed the finish line at 2:25:00; no other runner entered the stadium until after he broke the tape. Mimoun waited at the finish line to hug and salute Zatopek, who finished in sixth place. This was the first time that Alain Mimoun had defeated Zatopek in Olympic competition. The winner of 32 national championships in various events, he captured his last Marathon victory at age 51 with a time of 2:34:36 and remained a force to be reckoned with until well into his 70s. Honored for both his wartime service and for his athletic achievements, he was named Knight of the Legion of Honor in 1956, then over the years received three upgrades, the final in 2008 to Grand Officer of the Legion of Honor, France's highest decoration. Mimoun was selected to carry the Olympic Torch through Paris in 2004 and continued running into his 90s. He was buried in a tomb that he had constructed at the time of his conversion to Catholicism in the 1950s. At his demise at age 92 in 2013, a stadium in Bugeat, multiple schools, and about a dozen city streets throughout France carried his name.