Arron – 10.85 will be required

Athens, GreeceFor the first time in her career, European record holder Christine Arron is tackling a major championship during an unbeaten season at 100m.

A win streak of 11 victories (including 3 heats) with a season's best of 10.95 prior to the Games, and now two confident runs in the first two rounds at the Athens Olympics - 11.14 (1st Ht 7) and 11.10 (1st Qtr final) - yesterday.

Blossoming as an individual

Between her sporting debuts with karate in Guadeloupe and until her 4x100m World title last year in Paris, Arron’s career progression hasn’t been as fluid as her now-famous relay anchor legs.

A promising young sprinter, she left her island in 1992 for Paris. Back and thigh injuries delayed her explosion to the high level until 1997, when coached by Jacques Piasenta, she reached 4th place at World Championships 100m.

Superbly, Arron lowered her 11.03 personal best to 10.95, 10.85, 10.81 and finally 10.73 (European Record and 3rd rank on all-time World lists) during the European Championships final. Her thrilling last leg timed in 9.66 during 4x100m final she won, will be remembered as one of the most beautiful moments of French sports.

Misfortune knocked at her door again at 1999 World Championships with a left knee injury and at 2000 Olympic Games when she contracted a sore throat. After training for only 6 month with John Smith in USA, Christine welcomed a baby pause, and her son Éthan born on June, 28th 2002.

Since then, her physical problems seem to have disappeared. “My pregnancy allowed my body to regenerate itself” she reveals. 

With a very progressive comeback under Guy Ontanon (who also trains 200m European Champion Muriel Hurtis), she gradually found her former level, being able to recover better on the track and lift heavier in the weights-room, and placed 5th in 100m final at 2003 World Championships before winning relay gold.

Now 30, the 1.77m tall woman has increased training loads, sharpened her technique, although she strangely missed her 60m final at World Indoors in March, which some sceptics attribute to a mental weakness.

Still, for the second year, she works with a psychotherapist-energizer, Fanny Didiot-Abadi, who follows the sprinter like a shadow even during the warm-up “We work on mental and body, so that I can blossom out as an individual, be happy in my practice of sport, be strong”.  

Undefeated

During Winter and Spring, Arron spent her time between Paris and Guadeloupe, receiving coaching instructions by e-mail and phone from Ontanon. Having faced rain and windy weather until July, she finally found the right conditions at French Championships on July, 16th where she ran three races at a very high level, 11.14, 11.03 and 10.95, her 14th time under 11 seconds, and her best time since 1998, in spite of an average start (reaction time 0.170) and having just started 100m specific preparation. On this occasion, she won the 200m ahead of Hurtis.

“That was the first time I tried such a double, I had scheduled that competition as a training for Athens.” It will actually be a bid for three gold medals 100-200-4x100m, a feat achieved only by five women in Olympic history (Blankers-Koen, Cuthbert, Rudolph, Griffith, Jones).

Christine Arron’s confidence has grown with convincing victories including European Cup, Lausanne, Saint-Denis and Zürich, although sometimes by modest margins and times, as her coach predicts that “10.85 will be required to be on the Olympic podium, Christine is ready, we will have to wait for the right race.”

Having carried out an intensive five-day camp in Castres last week, most of the work is done. Her season’s 10.95 is the 2nd World best performance, far behind Bulgarian Ivet Lalova’s 10.77.

200m campaign

Standing only 14th on current 200m World Lists with 22.60 she will need to break her 22.26 personal best to fight for medals. “It will be a little bit harder, since the 200m has its own rhythm and specificities, which consists in 120m in turn and 80m in straight”, analyses Ontanon. “She will have to be a great bender and repeat that exercise at a higher gesture frequency than she did this season”.

Serene, Arron doesn’t care about prediction contests: “I have to focus on my own lane and my technique to run well. Thinking about opponents is a loss of time”.

Pierre-Jean Vazel for the IAAF