Christine Arron

Christine Arron
Christine Arron at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
Personal information
NationalityFrench
Born (1973-09-13) 13 September 1973 (age 51)
Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, France
Height177 cm (5 ft 10 in)[1]
Weight64 kg (141 lb)[1]
Sport
Sportsprinting
Event(s)60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4 × 100 metres relay
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  France
Olympic Games
Bronze medal – third place 2004 Athens 4 × 100 m relay
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Paris 4 × 100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 1999 Seville 4 × 100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 1997 Athens 4 × 100 m relay
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Helsinki 100 m
Bronze medal – third place 2005 Helsinki 200 m
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1998 Budapest 100 metres
Gold medal – first place 1998 Budapest 4 × 100 m relay
Silver medal – second place 2010 Barcelona 4 × 100 m relay
Mediterranean Games
Gold medal – first place 1997 Bari 200 m
Gold medal – first place 1997 Bari 4 × 100 m relay

Christine Arron (born 13 September 1973) is a former track and field sprinter, who competed internationally for France in the 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4 × 100 metres relay. She is one of the ten fastest female 100 metres sprinter of all time with 10.73 seconds which is still the European record. She set the record when winning at the 1998 European Championships, where she also won a gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay. Also in the relay, she is a 2003 World Championship gold medallist and a 2004 Olympic bronze medallist.[2]

Running career

Born in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe, Arron arrived in Metropolitan France in 1990 and first trained with Fernand Urtebise, who also coached the former 400 metres hurdles and 4 × 400 metres relay world champion Stephane Diagana.

On 19 Aug 1998, Arron won the 100 metres gold medal at the 1998 European Championships in Budapest by finishing the final in a new European record time of 10.73 seconds. Her time of 10.73 seconds made her then the world's second-fastest ever, female 100 metres sprinter, behind Florence Griffith-Joyner (10.49 seconds, set in 1988). She also won the 4 × 100 metres relay gold medal at the same championships. She was named the 1998 European Women's Athlete of the Year.

In 2001, after a heavy training period in the US with John Smith and the HSI group, Arron quit training for a year, saying she was physically exhausted from the experience. "It was hell. Every morning I wondered how I was going to put up with the burden of training." She had a hip injury which kept her out of the 2001 World Championships.

Arron was also the anchor runner of the French 4 × 100 relay team which upset the heavy favourites the US to win the gold medal at the 2003 World Championships in Paris. She recovered from 3 m behind the newly crowned, 100 m 2003 World Champion, Torri Edwards, to give the home crowd at the Stade de France an unexpected joy.

Arron won her only Olympic medal, a bronze medal, in the 4 × 100 m relay at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece.

In August 2005, Arron won a bronze medal in the 100 metres and 200 metres at the 2005 World Championships.

At the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, Arron competed in the 100 metres event. In her first round heat, she placed first in front of Lauryn Williams and Tahesia Harrigan in a time of 11.37 sec to advance to the second round. But in the second round, she failed to advance to the semi-finals as her time of 11.36 sec was only the fourth fastest time of her heat, behind Debbie Ferguson, Oludamola Osayomi and Vida Anim, causing her elimination from the event.[citation needed]

As of September 2023, Arron is the world's ninth-fastest, female 100 metres sprinter (10.73 sec) of all time.[3] Considering the controversy surrounding the performances of the world record-holder (10.49 sec, set in 1988), Florence Griffith-Joyner, many considered Arron's time of 10.73 sec. set during the 1998 European Championships to be the 'true' world record. Besides Griffith-Joyner, only Marion Jones, Carmelita Jeter, Shelly-Ann Fraser-Pryce, Elaine Thompson-Herah, Shericka Jackson, Marie-Josée Ta Lou and Sha'Carri Richardson have run faster than Arron in the 100 metres.[3]

In December 2012, Arron announced her retirement from athletics. She was expecting her second child then. She did not rule out the possibility of returning to athletics competition after the birth of her second child. [4]

On 9 October 2013, Arron was awarded the Chevalier de la Légion d'honneur by French President François Hollande in the Élysée Palace.[5]

Views on doping

Arron has voiced her annoyance with Marion Jones, her fiercest rival during her career: "She has lied for years [...] She treated everyone as idiots. I'm not shocked she is going to jail. Many people criticised me because I was always the one who lost in the Jones-Arron battle, even if I had very good results. We started running together in 1997. She has stolen my best years. Everything could have been different for me."[6]

Family

In 2002, Arron gave birth to her first child, a son by the name of Ethan. On 16 May 2013, Arron gave birth to her second child, a daughter by the name of Cassandre. Cassandre's father Benjamin Compaoré, a French triple jumper, became Arron's companion in 2009.[7] -

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Guadeloupe
1988 1988 CARIFTA Games (youth) Kingston, Jamaica 3rd 100 m 12.04
1992 1992 CARIFTA Games (junior) Nassau, Bahamas 1st 100m 11.31 w
3rd 4 × 100 m 45.79
Representing  France
1992 World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 12th (sf) 100m 11.85 (wind: +1.2 m/s)
5th 4 × 100 m relay 44.70
1997 Mediterranean Games Bari, Italy 1st 200 m 22.62
1st 4 × 100 m 42.63
World Championships Athens, Greece 4th 100 m 11.05
3rd 4 × 100 m 42.21
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 1st 100 m 10.73
1st 4 × 100 m 42.59
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 6th 100 m 10.97
2nd 4 × 100 m 42.06
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia semi-final 100 m 11.42 (11.26)
4th 4 × 100 m 42.42
2003 World Championships Paris, France 4th 100 m 11.06
1st 4 × 100 m 41.78
2004 Olympic Games Athens, Greece semi-final 100 m 11.21 (11.10)
semi-final 200 m 23.05
3rd 4 × 100 m 42.54
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 3rd 100 m 10.98
3rd 200 m 22.31
4th 4 × 100 m 42.85
2006 World Indoor Championships Moscow, Russia 4th 60 m 7.13 (7.11)
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China quarter-final 100 m 11.36
2010 European Championships Barcelona, Spain 8th 100 m 11.37 (11.24)
2nd 4 × 100 m 42.45
2012 European Championships Helsinki, Finland heats 100 m 11.55
5th 4 × 100 m 43.44

Note: Results in brackets indicate a superior time achieved in an earlier round.

References

  1. ^ a b "Christine ARRON". european-athletics.org. European Athletics. Retrieved 26 July 2015.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Christine Arron". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 2 December 2016.
  3. ^ a b "100 Metres Women". World Athletics. 14 September 2023.
  4. ^ "Christine Arron, enceinte : La belle sprinteuse arrête sa carrière..." purepeople.com. 16 December 2012.
  5. ^ "Pérec et Arron décorées de la Légion d'honneur". L'Équipe. France. 9 October 2013.
  6. ^ The Times Quote from an interview with L'Équipe
  7. ^ "Christine Arron : La sprinteuse heureuse maman d'une petite fille". purepeople.com. 12 July 2013.
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Christine Arron.
Records
Preceded by Women's 100m European Record Holder
19 August 1998 – 		Succeeded by
Incumbent
Awards
Preceded by Women's European Athlete of the Year
1998 		Succeeded by