Annette Sergent (born 17 November 1962) is a French former
long-distance runner
Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength.
Within endurance ru ...
. She represented her country three times at the
Summer Olympics
The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...
, but it was in
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...
that she had her greatest success. She became the first Frenchwoman to win a world title in the sport at the 1987 IAAF World Cross Country Championships and won for a second time in
1989
1989 was a turning point in political history with the "Revolutions of 1989" which ended communism in Eastern Bloc of Europe, starting in Poland and Hungary, with experiments in power-sharing coming to a head with the opening of the Berlin W ...
. In addition to these victories, she made eleven appearances at the competition and placed third in both 1986 and 1988.
Her sole major track medal came over 10,000 metres at the 1990 European Athletics Championships, where she was the
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...
list. She was also a 3000 m
silver medal
A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...
list at the 1993 Mediterranean Games. Over her career, she competed at the World Championships in Athletics on three occasions.
Sergent was a fifteen-time French champion, taking national honours eight times on the track and seven times in cross country.
She set a number of national record marks in her career and remains the French record holder over 2000 m.
She was twice married and ran under the names Annette ''Sergent-Palluy'' and ''Sergent-Petit''.
Career
Early life
Born in
Chambéry
Chambéry (, , ; Franco-Provençal, Arpitan: ''Chambèri'') is the Prefectures in France, prefecture and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of the Savoie Departments of France, department in the southeastern ...
, France,Annette Sergent-Palluy Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2011-12-28. she initially focused on the
3000 metres
The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track.
It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...
and won the French under-23 title at the age of nineteen and broke the French under-23 record in 1982. Sergent went on to win her first national title over that distance in 1983. She won a 1500/3000 m double at the French Athletics Championships the year after and was selected to represent France at the
1984 Summer Olympics
The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...
in
Los Angeles
Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...
.ANNETTE SERGENT-PETIT FFA. Retrieved on 2011-12-28. On her first senior international outing, she was eliminated in the first round of the 3000 m, coming seventh in her heat. She closed the year with a win at the Cross du Figaro in Paris.
In 1985 she retained her two national track titles and began to prove herself in
cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and soil, earth, pass through woodlands and ope ...
IAAF
World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...
. Retrieved on 2011-12-28. In October, she won on the roads at the 10K Foulées de Suresnes. At the 1986 edition of the competition she won her first international medals in the long race, taking
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...
s in the individual and team events. Her continental track debut for France came at the
1986 European Athletics Championships
The 14th European Athletics Championships were held from 26 to 31 August 1986 at the Neckarstadion, now known as MHPArena, in Stuttgart, a city in West Germany.
Contemporaneous reports were given in the Glasgow Herald.
Me ...
in
Stuttgart
Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
and although she was eliminated in the heats of the 1500 m, she managed eighth in the women's 3000 m final.
United States
The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...
Auckland
Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...
she failed to retain her title but won a medal for the third year running, taking individual and team bronze medals in the long race. On the track she set national records in the 3000 m and the 10,000 metres. She was a finalist in both events at the
1988 Seoul Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were repres ...
, finishing 12th and 19th respectively. That year she ranked second over 5000 m at the IAAF Grand Prix Final, finishing as runner-up to Britain's Liz McColgan.
A fifth consecutive French cross country title came in 1989 and at the 1989 IAAF World Cross Country Championships she returned to the top of the podium, taking the gold medal and taking France to the team runner-up spot close behind the Soviet team. She suffered an injury, missing the rest of the season, and returned to action at the 1990 IAAF World Cross Country Championships held in
Aix-les-Bains
Aix-les-Bains (, ; ; ), known locally and simply as Aix, is a Communes of France, commune in the southeastern French Departments of France, department of Savoie.1990 European Athletics Championships in
Split
Split(s) or The Split may refer to:
Places
* Split, Croatia, the largest coastal city in Croatia
* Split Island, Canada, an island in the Hudson Bay
* Split Island, Falkland Islands
* Split Island, Fiji, better known as Hạfliua
Arts, enter ...
and came away with the
bronze medal
A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...
(her first on the track) and a new French record mark of 31:51.68 minutes. After the track season, she took to the roads and won the 3 km race at the Giro Podistico Internazionale di Pettinengo in Italy.
Her principal race of 1991 came over 10,000 m at the
1991 World Championships in Athletics
The 3rd World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Olympic Stadium in Tokyo, Japan between August 23 and September 1. 1517 athletes from 167 countries partic ...
. Although she qualified easily with a run 31:55.97 minutes, she could not match this form in the final, in which she finished 19th and was over a minute slower. Sergent's career began to decline and in 1992 she came 27th at the 1992 World Cross Country race and failed to make it out of the 10,000 m heats at the
1992 Barcelona Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympics (, ), officially the Games of the XXV Olympiad (, ) and officially branded as Barcelona '92, were an international multi-sport event held from 25 July to 9 August 1992 in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain. Beginning in 1994 ...
1993 World Championships in Athletics
The 4th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held in the Neckarstadium, Stuttgart, Germany between 13 and 22 August with the participation of 187 nations. Having or ...
she was eliminated in the heats of the 3000 m in her third and final appearance at the competition. She did not end the season empty handed, however, as at the 1993 Mediterranean Games, held on home turf in
Languedoc-Roussillon
Languedoc-Roussillon (; ; ) is a former regions of France, administrative region of France. On 1 January 2016, it joined with the region of Midi-Pyrénées to become Occitania (administrative region), Occitania. It comprised five departments o ...
, she took the silver medal over 3000 m.
Late career
An 89th-place finish at the 1994 World Cross Country was a career low, but she improved the year after to come 19th in the 1995 World long race. She also won her seventh (and last) French Cross Country Championship With women now competing over 5000 m at the outdoor world championships, she had to enter at the
1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 5th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palau Sant Jordi in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain
Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North A ...
to compete in her specialist 3000 m event and she managed eighth in the final. Sergent ran at the 2nd European Cross Country Championships in December and came sixth, helping the French women's team to third in the team rankings.
She made her eleventh World Cross Country Championships appearance at the 1996 edition and finished 24th in the women's long race, ranking sixth with the French team. That year was the last of her athletics career and she brought it to an end with a win at the inaugural Lille Half Marathon race, taking the title in a time of 1:11:21 hours.
Following her retirement from competitive athletics in 1996, she is now a member of the
European Athletic Association
The European Athletic Association (EAA, more commonly known as European Athletics) is the governing body for athletics in Europe. It is one of the six Area Associations of the world's athletics governing body World Athletics. European Athletics h ...
's cross country committee.
National records
Over her career, she broke a number of French record ranging from the
mile run
The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race.
The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...
to the 10,000 metres. Her first national record mark came in 1985, when she ran a time of 8:52.32 minutes for the
3000 metres
The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track.
It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...
. She improved this to 8:50.56 the following month and broke Patricia Deneuville's French mile record a month after that (registering a time of 4:39.35 mins). In July 1986 she lopped three and a half seconds off her 3000 m mark, set a time of 5:39.00 mins for the 2000 m, then bettered Joëlle De Brouwer's
5000 metres
The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...
record by almost twenty seconds, setting a new standard of 15:32.92 mins. Two further improvements over 3000 m and 5000 m came in 1988, with runs of 8:44.19 and 15:18.24 mins respectively. She also beat Christine Loiseau's record over 10,000 m that year. In 1990 she ran 15:16.44 mins for the 5000 m, which was to be her last national mark over that distance. Her run of 31:51.68 minutes at that year's European Championships made her the first Frenchwoman to complete the event in under 32 minutes. Although her 2000 m time is still the best set by a French athlete, all her records in other events were not long-standing: her 3000 m was beaten by Marie-Pierre Duros after a year, her 10,000 m mark was beaten by Rosario Murcia after two years, while her 5000 m was broken after four years by Farida Fatès.Chronologie des records de France Cadets, Juniors et Seniors depuis 1983 . FFA/Christian Tharaud. Retrieved on 2011-12-28.French Records
Fédération Française d'Athlétisme
The French Athletics Federation (, FFA) is the governing body for the sport of athletics in France.
History
FFA is the heir to the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA), founded November 20, 1887. In 1912, a French del ...