Jessica Cérival (born 20 January 1982 in

Quimper, Finistère Quimper (, ; ; or ) is a commune and prefecture of the Finistère department of Brittany in northwestern France. Administration Quimper is the prefecture (capital) of the Finistère department. Geography The city of Quimper was built at th ...

) is a French

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete who specialises in the

shot put The shot put is a track-and-field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical Ball (sports), ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. For men, the sport has been a part of the Olympic Games, modern Olympics since their 1896 Summer Olym ...

. She attended her first major competition in 2007, the

2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held in the National Indoor Arena (NIA) in Birmingham, England, from Friday, 2 March to Sunday, 4 March 2007. Birmingham also held the 2003 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 9th IAAF Wor ...

, and she finished seventh overall. She took part in the following edition in

2009 2009 was designated as the International Year of Astronomy by the United Nations to coincide with the 400th anniversary of Galileo Galilei's first known astronomical studies with a telescope and the publication of Astronomia Nova by Joha ...

but was knocked out in the qualifying round.Cérival Jessica

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 2010-04-01. In spite of this, 2009 turned out to be a significant progression for the athlete. She became the French national champion and went on to take the shot put gold at the

2009 Mediterranean Games The 2009 Mediterranean Games, officially the XVI Mediterranean Games () and commonly known as Pescara 2009, was a multi-sport event held in Pescara, Italy, from 26 June to 5 July 2009. It was governed by the International Committee of Mediterran ...

, becoming the first French women in thirty years to take the title. She was selected for the French team at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

and she finished eleventh. She closed the year with a silver medal behind Anca Heltne at the

2009 Jeux de la Francophonie 9 (nine) is the natural number following and preceding . Evolution of the Hindu–Arabic digit Circa 300 BC, as part of the Brahmi numerals, various Indians wrote a digit 9 similar in shape to the modern closing question mark without the bot ...

.Vazel, P-J (2009-10-02)
El Ghazaly heads double success for Egypt - Francophone Games, Day 1

. Retrieved on 2009-10-03. She came fourth at the

2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from 4 to 6 March 2011. 577 athletes representing 46 countries competed at the championships. Twenty-six track and field events we ...

and was the silver medallist at the

2011 European Cup Winter Throwing The 2011 European Cup Winter Throwing was held on 19 and 20 March 2011 at the National Sports Academy in Sofia, Bulgaria. It was the eleventh edition of the athletics competition for throwing events and was jointly organised by the European Athle ...

outdoors. She represented France at the

2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2012 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics was the 14th edition of the global-level indoor track and field competition and was held between March 9–11, 2012 at the Ataköy Athletics Arena in Istanbul, Turkey. It was the first of fo ...

, but did not progress beyond the qualifiers.

Competition record

References

External links

Photos from Mediterranean Games
from ''Life'' 1982 births Living people French female shot putters Mediterranean Games gold medalists for France Athletes (track and field) at the 2009 Mediterranean Games Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 2007 Summer Universiade Sportspeople from Quimper Athletes from Brittany 21st-century French sportswomen {{France-shotput-bio-stub