thumb|Théodore Champion with Henri Henneberg in Paris–Roubaix (1898) '''Théodore Champion''' (14 February 1873 – 31 August 1954) was a Swiss cyclist, philatelist and stamp dealer, who was added to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists in 1937.<ref>''[http://www.abps.org.uk/Awards/Roll_of_Distinguished_Philatelists/RDP_Background_20111231_LR.pdf Background notes on The Roll of Distinguished Philatelists September 2011]'', Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Trust, London, 2011. [https://web.archive.org/web/20130819000841/http://abps.org.uk/Awards/Roll_of_Distinguished_Philatelists/RDP_Background_20111231_LR.pdf Archived here.]</ref> He was born in Geneva and took French citizenship in 1948.
==Cycling== Théodore Champion was among the first generation of Swiss cyclists. Four times - 1892, 1893, 1895 and 1896 - he was Swiss champion in the sprint. In 1895 he was also second in the Swiss Championship road race.
==Philately== Theodore Champion was the son of a bank employee and a mother who collected stamps. With his brother Adrien he searched the bins of his father's bank for stamps. It was said that they sold their collection for a large sum of money to show their skeptical father the merits of collecting stamps.{{citation required|date=August 2014}}
He moved to Paris in 1899 and was employed by Alfred Forbin. In 1902 he bought Forbin's postage stamp dealership so that Forbin could concentrate on fiscal stamps.<ref name=birch>Birch, Brian. ''Biographies of Philatelists and Dealers''. 9th edition. Standish, Wigan: 2008, p.540.</ref>
Champion was one of the founders of the Paris Postal Museum, to which he left valuable pieces from his collection.
==Tributes== Theodore Champion was shown several times on stamps: *Liechtenstein issued a special stamp in 1969 *Antigua 1993 *Montserrat in 2002 on a block of four stamps in honor of Rowland Hill
==References== {{Reflist}}
==External links== *[http://www.siteducyclisme.net/coureurfiche.php?coureurid=26447 Information about Champion's cycling career.] *https://www.theodorechampion.fr/ Website of the firm Théodore Champion. {{Authority control}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Champion, Theodore}} Category:Signatories to the Roll of Distinguished Philatelists Category:1873 births Category:1954 deaths Category:Naturalized citizens of France Category:French philatelists Category:Cyclists from Geneva Category:Swiss male cyclists Category:French stamp dealers {{Philatelist-stub}} {{Switzerland-cycling-bio-stub}}