Pierre Quinon, whose father was an 800 metres runner, started his pole vaulting career at the Rhodia Club Omnisports (athletics section), which is based in the town of Salaise-sur-Sanne (in the department of Isère).
He made his pole vault competition debut in 1976, at the age of 14, in the town of Le Péage-de-Roussillon (in the department of Isère).
In 1981, Quinon joined the Racing Club de France in Paris and trained there on a group basis with Patrick Abada, Jean-Michel Bellot and Thierry Vigneron (a former pole vault world record holder), all under the supervision of Jean-Claude Perrin, who was a member of the club's coaching staff.
[1][2][3][4] Quinon's participation at the inaugural 1983 World Championships in Helsinki was a flop; he did not manage to clear a single height in his three attempts.
He also won three Championnats de France d'athlétisme (French National Athletics Championships) outdoor pole vault titles at the senior level in 1982, 1983 and 1984 with heights of 5.55m, 5.65m and 5.70m respectively.
[9] After his retirement, from 1993 onwards, Quinon settled in the Mediterranean coast of the department of Var, in the communes of Le Lavandou, Bormes-les-Mimosas and then Hyères.
He stated that he had always been interested in painting and that Nicolas de Staël and Jackson Pollock were his role models who inspired him.
[1][2] Quinon supported and promoted the bid of his native city - Lyon - to host the 2015 World Masters Athletics Championships.
He worked on the preparations for the bid and accompanied his country's senior sports officials to the United States as part of his duties.
[1][4][11][12] At around 10 pm on Wednesday 17 August 2011 Quinon committed suicide by throwing himself headlong out of a window of his apartment in Hyères from a height of 5 metres.
The local French daily Var-Matin broke the news of his suicide the following morning and this was later confirmed by the Fédération française d'athlétisme.
[13][1] In an interview with the French radio network Europe 1, Jean-Claude Perrin, Quinon's former coach, said, "When a life is lost like that, titles and records do not count any more."
[1][5] Bernard Amsalem, the president of the Fédération française d'athlétisme, said that he was "grief-stricken" on hearing the news of Quinon's death.
[1] Marcel Ferrari, the president of the Ligue d'Athlétisme Rhône-Alpes, who like Quinon was a member of the French delegation to the July 2011 World Masters Athletics General Assembly in Sacramento, California, told Lyon Capitale that he did not observe any warning signs of Quinon's impending suicide.
It was attended by more than 200 persons, among them his two sons (Robin and Jean-Baptiste), his ex-wife (Caroline Large), his sister (Isabelle), his mother, Jean-Claude Perrin (his former coach) and notable, retired French athlete like Stéphane Diagana, Maryse Éwanjé-Épée, Thierry Vigneron, Christian Plaziat and William Motti.
A very moved Stéphane Diagana, who was a friend of Quinon, read a hand-written letter from Jean Galfione, the 1996 Olympic Games pole vault gold medallist.
The cortege then walked in silence to the Roman Catholic Church of Saint-Trophyme in Bormes-les-Mimosas for a religious ceremony conducted by the parish priest, Father Lopez.
During the religious ceremony, Robbie Williams's song Angels, which was chosen by Quinon's family to bid farewell to him, rang out inside the church.
The inauguration ceremony was attended by Quinon's two sons (Robin and Jean-Baptiste), his ex-wife (Caroline Large), Albert Vatinet (the mayor of Bormes-les-Mimosas), Bernard Amsalem (the president of the Fédération française d'athlétisme), and notable French athletes such as Laurence Bily, Stéphane Diagana, Jean Galfione, Joseph Mahmoud and William Motti.