Christine Arron

Christine Arron

Christine Arron at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	(1973-09-13) 13 September 1973 (age 43) Les Abymes, Guadeloupe,France
Height	177 cm (5 ft 10 in)
Weight	64 kg (141 lb)
Sport
Sport	sprinting
Event(s)	60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4x100 metres relay
Medal record Women's athletics Representing France Olympic Games 2004 Athens 4×100 m relay World Championships 2003 Paris 4×100 m relay 1999 Seville 4×100 m relay 1997 Athens 4×100 m relay 2005 Helsinki 100 m 2005 Helsinki 200 m European Championships 1998 Budapest 100 metres 1998 Budapest 4×100 m relay 2010 Barcelona 4×100 m relay Mediterranean Games 1997 Bari 200 m 1997 Bari 4×100 m relay

Christine Arron (born 13 September 1973) is a retired, track and field sprinter, who competed internationally for France in the 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4x100 metres relay. As of July 2013, she is the world's fifth-fastest, female 100 metres sprinter (10.73 sec) of all time and holds the European record of 10.73 seconds for this distance.

Arron arrived in Metropolitan France in 1990 and first trained with Fernand Urtebise, who also coached the former 400 metres hurdles and 4 x 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.