Mélanie Henique

Mélanie Henique (born 22 December 1992) is a French competitive swimmer. She won a bronze medal in the 50 metre butterfly at the 2011 World Championships and a silver medal in the 50 metre butterfly at the 2022 World Aquatics Championships.

Mélanie Henique

Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	(1992-12-22) 22 December 1992 (age 32) Amiens, France
Sport
Sport	Swimming
Strokes	Butterfly
Club	Amiens Métropole Natation
Medal record Women's swimming Representing  France World Championships (LC) 2022 Budapest 50 m butterfly 2024 Doha 50 m butterfly 2011 Shanghai 50 m butterfly World Championships (SC) 2022 Melbourne 4×50 m mixed freestyle 2014 Doha 4×50 m medley European Championships (LC) 2020 Budapest 50 m butterfly 2010 Budapest 50 m butterfly European Championships (SC) 2012 Chartres 4×50 m mixed medley 2019 Glasgow 50 m butterfly 2019 Glasgow 4×50 m freestyle 2019 Glasgow 50 m freestyle 2012 Chartres 50 m butterfly 2012 Chartres 4×50 m medley 2017 Copenhagen 4×50 m medley 2017 Copenhagen 4×50 m mixed medley 2019 Glasgow 4×50 m mixed freestyle Mediterranean Games 2009 Pescara 50 m butterfly World Junior Championships 2008 Monterrey 50 m butterfly

Career

At the 2011 World Aquatics Championships, held in Shanghai, China, Henique achieved a time of 25.86 seconds in the final of the 50 metre butterfly and won the bronze medal, finishing 0.15 seconds behind gold medalist Inge Dekker of the Netherlands.^[1]

Henique qualified to represent France at the 2020 Summer Olympics.^[2] At the Olympic Games, held in Tokyo, Japan in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, she tied Simone Manuel of the United States for eleventh place in the 50 metre freestyle with a time of 24.63 seconds.^[3]

At the 2022 World Aquatics Championships, held at Danube Arena in Budapest, Hungary, Henique won the silver medal in the 50 metre butterfly with a time of 25.31 seconds, finishing less than four-tenths of a second behind gold medalist Sarah Sjöström of Sweden and one-hundredth of a second ahead of bronze medalist Zhang Yufei of China (also in 2024 but wins the mixed freestyle relay in 2022).^[4][5][6]

Personal life

In 2014, she was 55th on Brigitte Fouré's list for the municipal elections in Amiens.^[7]

In 2015, being openly lesbian, she was a victim of a homophobic attack in Amiens, suffering from a broken nose and forcing her to withdraw from the French Swimming Open.^[8]