Nadia Prasad Bernard (born October 6, 1967, at

Caussade Caussade () is a commune in the district of Montauban, located in the Tarn-et-Garonne department in the Occitanie region in the south of France. Caussade, an ancient city of the white Quercy or lower Quercy, it is located in the hills of Quer ...

) is a French

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

, who specializes in distance races.

Biographie

Grew up in New Caledonia, Nadia took part at the age of 15 in the

1983 South Pacific Games The 7th South Pacific Games (), also known as Apia 1983, held on 5–16 September 1983 in Apia, Western Samoa, was the seventh edition of the South Pacific Games. Participating countries Fifteen nations competed at the 1983 South Pacific Games: ...

, in which she won Gold in the 1500 m and 3000 m (under the name of Nadia Bernard). Four years later, she again defended her title in both events at the

1987 South Pacific Games The 8th South Pacific Games (), also known as Nouméa 1987, held on 8–20 December 1987 in Nouméa, New Caledonia, was the eighth edition of the South Pacific Games. Political events of the time affected the Games in 1987 and the number of compe ...

and also won a silver in the 800 meters. She met in this meet the Fijian distance runner, Bineshwar Prasad, whom she married two years later. Her first big success was her victory at Las Vegas Marathon 1991. After having two children in the next two years, she returned to competition. She finished seventh at the Boston Marathon and third at New York City Marathon in 1993. In 1995 she won the Los Angeles Marathon, was French champion in the 10,000m, and competing for New Caledonia, she won three gold medals at the

1995 South Pacific Games The 10th South Pacific Games (; ), also known as Papeete 1995 (), held in Papeete, French Polynesia from 25 August to 5 September 1995, was the tenth edition of the South Pacific Games. The 1995 games were affected by the decision by France to r ...

(over 1500 m, 3000 m and 10,000 m). She won the title of champion of France in the 10 000 m in 1995 and the marathon in 1996. She held the French record for

10 km 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

in 31 min 38 s, established on 16 October 1994

Chula Vista Chula Vista ( ; , ) is a city in San Diego County, California, United States. It is the second-most populous city in the San Diego metropolitan area, the seventh-most populous city in Southern California, the 15th-most populous city in the ...

, in

California California () is a U.S. state, state in the Western United States that lies on the West Coast of the United States, Pacific Coast. It borders Oregon to the north, Nevada and Arizona to the east, and shares Mexico–United States border, an ...

. In 1995, she won the

Los Angeles Marathon The Los Angeles Marathon (formerly known as the City of Los Angeles Marathon) is an annual running event typically held each spring in Los Angeles, California, since 1986. The marathon was inspired by the success of the 1984 Summer Olympic Ga ...

at 2:29:48, a personal best time. Nadia Prasad is 1.58 meters tall and weighs 44 kg. She lives with her husband and four children in Boulder (Colorado), where she works as a trainer and masseuse. She won the 1994 Bolder Boulder 10k race and in 2019 was inducted into the Boulder Sports Hall of Fame. She became an American citizen on January 5, 2000.Olympic profile fo
Nadia Prasad
on ''sports-reference.com''

Prize list

* French Championships in Athletics : ** winner 10 000m in

1995 1995 was designated as: * United Nations Year for Tolerance * World Year of Peoples' Commemoration of the Victims of the Second World War This was the first year that the Internet was entirely privatized, with the United States government ...

** marathon winner in 1996

Records

Notes and references

* Docathlé2003, Fédération française d'athlétisme, 2003, p. 390 1967 births Living people Sportspeople from Tarn-et-Garonne Athletes from Occitania (administrative region) New Caledonian female long-distance runners French female long-distance runners French female marathon runners Olympic athletes for France Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics French Athletics Championships winners French emigrants to the United States Pacific Games gold medalists for New Caledonia Pacific Games medalists in athletics 20th-century French sportswomen {{France-longdistance-athletics-bio-stub