Christine Arron was Born in Les Abymes, Guadeloupe. Sh is a former track and field sprinter, who competed internationally for France in the 60 metres, 100 metres, 200 metres and the 4x100 metres relay. Ms Arron arrived in Metropolitan France in 1990 . She was incredibly fats and was very graceful too. 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. Despite a bad start Christine realized an impossible come back to beat Ekaterina thanou and Irina privalova the reigning champ. 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.) Today, she is the world's sixth-fastest female 100 metres sprinter of all time with 10.73 secs, which is still the European record. 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.
The 100m record is just untouchable. In 1988, Florence Griffith Joyner aka Flo Jo, broke both records (100m and 200m) in that same season. Florence Griffith-Joyner never officially failed a drug test. However, a lot of people are convninced that she used PEDs . Her times underwent a dramatic drop in a single season,. Flo-Jo went from a 10.96 in the 100m in 1987 to a 10.49 in 1988.. That’s a .47 improvement in the 100m in a single season. Plus she had a spectacular physical change that is hard to ignore. Her voice noticeably deepened, Her jawline became more pronounced. She put on lots of muscle mass and definition. Those changes are all textbook signs of steroid use in women. After it was announced that new random drug testing was going to take place, she almost immediately announced her retirement..in the middle of her prime: Suspicious coincidence ! Female sprinters since Flo Jo have not been able to come near her mark.
Marion Jones approached Flo Jo’s times in the 100 and 200 but never surpassed them. Marion Jones was Christine arron’s fiercest rival during her career:
Marion Jones was born on October 12, 1975, in Los Angeles. She had stellar performances in high school competition included an undefeated record the national high school record in the 200-meter sprint. When she entered the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC), Jones became determined to participate in both basketball and track. After graduation, Jones decided to focus solely on track. After just three months of training consistently, she captured the 100-meter title at the 1997 USA Outdoor Championships in Indianapolis, with a time of 10.90 seconds. then Jones continued her success that year by winning the 100-meter sprint and helping to set a new American record as part of the 4 x 100-meter relay team at the World Championships in Athens. From then she won almost everything and has been considered greatest female athlete and one of the greatest athletes of all time.
All Arron’s results have been downplayed compared to Marion’s and even her whole career (Christine still had a wonderful career) and we realized it was a huge injustice the 11th January 2008. Marion Jones was sentenced in a federal court to six months in prison, two years of probation and community service for lying to federal prosecutors investigating the use of performance-enhancing substances.
As she said it herself : "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."…. […] Me, I did with, I could see that I was wronged. At the time, I knew things, but I said to myself: 'I am an athlete and not a gendarme'. I could not do anything, I just suffered and had the balls. I have never been in my place. I did not have many medals, at least a lot less than I should have had. And all that goes with: the financial benefits, the premiums, the contracts. At the time, my 10 "73 was the 3rd best world performance, but when you see who's ahead of me ... Maybe I should have the world record, it would have changed my life! “
It was after years of denial that Marion Jones finally acknowledged that she had resorted to doping products. Before the sentencing, Jones broke down as she asked Karas not to send her to prison. "I plead with you to alleviate the situation by not separating me from my boys, even for a short period of time," she said. But the judge noted that "athletes in society ... serve as role models to children around the world. When there is a widespread level of cheating, it sends all the wrong messages.". "People live with their choices," he added, "and the choice not to play by the rules has been compounded by the choice to break the law."
The suspicions about Marion jones became more insistent when her first husband, the American weight-thrower C.J. Hunter, was tested positive for some doping substances in 2000, just before the Sydney Olympics. But at the same Olympics, Marion Jones won three gold medals and two bronze medals. Marion jones, then, gets closer to the sprinter Tim Montgomery, with whom she will have a son in 2003. The couple trains together with a very controversial coach in the field of athletics, Trevor Graham, suspected of doping his athletes. Then the Balco affair burst. This pharmaceutical company would have provided doping substances to many athletes. Even though her ex-husband, Tim, clearly accuses him of injecting illegal drugs, Marion Jones continues to deny.
Finally in 2007. The Washington Post, an American newspaper, reveals that the sprinter wrote a letter to her relatives explaining her years of doping just before taking part in the 2000 Sydney OlympicsMarion Jones made amends, confessing, shameful and repentant, in front of the cameras of the whole world having doped with steroids. After his confession, the International Athletics Federation cancels its results after September 2000. For its part, the International Olympic Committee withdrew its five Olympic medals.
The truth is, we’ll maybe never know the identity of the woman with the most natural speed in history but we know one thing : …christine ARRON has been the fastest and can’t be out of the top 3 !!!
To know more on the subject:
Pierre-Jean Vazel, « European 100m record-holder Arron hangs up her spikes » [archive], sur www.iaaf.org (consulté le 23 décembre 2012)
"CNN Newsroom: Jones Doping Case; Tax Standoff Ends; Myanmar Crackdown". CNN Transcripts. October 5, 2007.
Rowen, Beth; Ross, Shmuel; Olson, Liz (2007). "Marion Jones: Fastest Woman on Earth". InfoPlease Database. Retrieved February 10, 2008.
"Disgraced sprinter Jones reports to jail". AFP. March 7, 2008. Archived from the original on June 21, 2008. Retrieved July 30, 2008.
"FloJo: World's Fastest Woman". CNN. Archived from the original on August 25, 2012. Retrieved October 20, 2012.
d Longman, Jere (September 22, 1998). "Florence Griffith Joyner, 38, Champion Sprinter, Is Dead". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on August 30, 2017. Retrieved August 30, 2017.
Macnow, Glen (December 16, 1988). "Cash Flo Griffith Joyner Leads The Pack In Cashing In On The Olympics". Philly.com. Archived from the original on August 17, 2016. Retrieved July 31, 2016.
Speed, glamour, doubt will be Flo-Jo's legacy, Reuters, September 23, 1998
