Other names: LONGO, Jeannie

Born: 31 October 1958

Birthplace: Annecy (France)

Nationality: France

Sport: Cycling

ATTENDANCE AT THE OLYMPIC GAMES

Los Angeles 1984

Seoul 1988

Barcelona 1992

Atlanta 1996

Sydney 2000

AWARDS

Olympic medals:

Gold: 1

Silver: 2

Bronze: 1

Other results:

World Championships Road

Gold: 9 (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1995, 1996, 1997, 2001)

Silver: 4 (1981, 1992, 1993, 2000)

World Championships Track

Gold: 4 (1986, 1988, 1989)

Silver: 3 (1984, 1985, 1987)

Bronze: 3 (1981, 1982, 1983)

Bronze: 2 (1994, 2001)

Pioneer Female Cyclist

By the time of the 1996 Olympics, 37-year-old Jeannie Longo had won ten world championships: five in the road race, one in the road time trial, three in the individual pursuit and one in the points race. Longo was so much the dominant woman's cyclist of the previous eleven years that she had even won a world championship silver medal in mountain biking. But Olympic success had escaped her. In the 1984 road race, a last-minute collision left her in sixth place. In 1988, a month after breaking her hip, she could do no better than 21st. In 1992, she was second to Kathy Watt. In Barcelona she also entered the pursuit, but was beaten in the quarterfinals (barely) by Rebecca Twigg. Ever the individualist, Longo followed her own training strategy for the 1996 Olympics. While others were arriving in Atlanta early to acclimatize to the heat and humidity, Longo rented a home in the mountains of Colorado, trained in the cool fresh air, and arrived in Atlanta two days before the road race. The contest began in the late morning and was disrupted by a midrace downpour that had the racers skidding and falling. The course consisted of eight 13km laps. Alessandra Cappellotto of Italy made a solo break during the third lap. Fellow Italian Imelda Chiappa counterattacked during the fifth lap. Longo went with her, as did Anna Wilson of Australia and Clara Hughes of Canada. Wilson fell back quickly, but the other three gradually pulled away from the peleton. Eleven kilometres from the finish, Longo made her move and Chiappa and Hughes were left behind. Later in the Atlanta Games, Longo earned a silver medal in the road time trial. She returned to Olympics in 2000, competing in the road race and then, at the age of 41, winning a bronze medal in the road time trial. At the Athens Olympic Games in 2004, taking part in her 6th edition of the Games, Jeannie Longo finished 14th in the time trial - two months after celebrating her 46th birthday - and came 10th in the road race.