[1] In May 1956 Macquet threw 79.01 m, which was less than three meters short of Bud Held's world record;[1][2] ahead of the 1956 Olympics he beat Finland's Soini Nikkinen, who had broken the world record in the meantime, in a dual meet between France and Finland.
[4] Macquet first broke 80 metres in 1957,[2] and remained one of the world's top throwers for the next few years, improving his results slowly but steadily.
[1][5] At the 1958 European Championships in Stockholm he placed fourth with a throw of 75.18 m, only eight centimetres behind bronze medalist Gergely Kulcsár of Hungary.
[6] Macquet failed to qualify for the final at the 1960 Olympics in Rome, but was still ranked second in the world that year by Track & Field News.
[1][2][5] After 1961 Macquet was never ranked in the world's top 10 again,[5] but still competed in his third Olympic Games in 1964, again failing to qualify for the final.