From Longman Dictionary of Contemporary Englishchampioncham‧pi‧on1 /ˈtʃæmpiən/ ●●● W3 noun [countable] 1 WINsomeone or something that has won a competition, especially in sport the world heavyweight boxing champion the Olympic championreigning/defending champion (=the champion at the present time)2 → champion of something/somebodyCOLLOCATIONSADJECTIVES/NOUN + champion an Olympic championShe's a top international athlete and an Olympic champion.the world championAt 22, he was the youngest world champion in the history of the game.the defending/reigning champion (=the present one)Cheah defeated the defending champion in the National Grand Prix.a former championThe former champion suffered a bad defeat.a junior championThe cycling team includes British junior champion, Andrew Wright.a national championAt 16, Gallois is France's youngest national champion.a boxing/tennis/golf etc championThe show will be opened by the former world boxing champion, Chris Eubank.a heavyweight/middleweight/featherweight etc champion (=one in a particular class of boxers, organized according to their weight)Graham's reign as middleweight champion ended last night.the 100/200 etc metres champion (=one in a running race)She's the world 3,000 metres champion.verbsbecome championEvery sportsperson dreams of becoming a world champion.be crowned champion (=become champion)In 2007, the Springboks were crowned the rugby champions of the world.champion + NOUNa champion swimmer/boxer/cyclist etcLester Piggott is a former champion jockey.
Examples from the Corpus
champion• It does so on two grounds: that Duran is no longer a champion and that he may not be fit.• Mohammed Ali, the former world heavyweight boxing champion, will appear on the 'Tonight' show next week.• Tracey Thompson agrees there aren't many schools, especially girls schools which can boast two national chess champions.• The defending World Cup champion was fastest in practice.• As defending champion, he is expected to reach the final.• Jack Johnson, the first black heavyweight champion, had his problems with the law.• By 1978 Boitano was the national junior champion in ice skating.• But, whatever the result, he is backing United to be the first Premier League champions.• United responded like champions and laid seige to the Chelsea goal for the remainder of the game.• Two men walk in there who walks out the champion?• Bjorn Borg was the reigning Wimbledon champion for five years.• And the fighter revealed he's shelling out £20,000 for sparring partners Mike Weaver and Tony Tubbs, both former world champions.world ... champion• World Champion Jan Kellner broke his rib during the squirt competition the day before.• World Champion Jan O Pedersen was star of the night.• In 1988 you bet you would still be world champion in 2000.• You have been world champion for almost 15 years.• But former boxing world champion Barry McGuigan was knocked out of the event with a blown engine on his Vauxhall Nova.championchampion2 ●○○ verb [transitive] written SUPPORT A PERSON, GROUP, OR PLANto publicly fight for and defend an aim or principle, such as the rights of a group of people She championed the cause of religious freedom.→ See Verb tableExamples from the Corpus
champion• Radio presenters and producers often get great pleasure from seeing the success of a record which they have championed.• The hypothesis has been championed by F. Papi.• For $ 35,000, this little town plans to build an elevator to comply with legislation championed by Sen.• Odd how no traditional civil rights or liberal black leader stepped forth to champion her cause.• Purcell championed social programs for the elderly.• Hopefully, these opinion-formers will champion the act's cause and gradually the public will be interested enough to find out more.• The organizational theorists who have championed the matrixing approach candidly label it an organizational overlay.• Those, like me, who championed the News Network asked whether we could afford to lose one-and-a-half million new listeners.• That Aussie on the telly championing the Outback is merely praising its warm-weather virtue.Origin champion1 (1100-1200) Old French Medieval Latin campio 