At the 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie, the

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

events were held at

Terry Fox Stadium Terry Fox Stadium, also known as the Terry Fox Athletic Facility is an athletic field in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada, named after cancer research activist Terry Fox. It has a regulation-size natural grass soccer field, surrounded by a 400-metre track ...

Ottawa, Ontario Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...

, Canada between 19 and 23 July 2001. A total of 47 events were contested, of which 24 by male and 23 by female athletes. Included in this were two disability athletics events for

wheelchair racer Wheelchair racing is the racing of wheelchairs in track and road races. Wheelchair racing is open to athletes with any qualifying type of disability, amputees, spinal cord injuries, cerebral palsy and partially sighted (when combined with another ...

s. A total of 23 Games records were broken or equalled in the competition.Francophone Games
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-02-10. The host nation won the most

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

s in the competition—taking eleven golds in a haul of 24 medals— but it was beaten on the total overall medal count by France which won 27 events.

Morocco Morocco (),, ) officially the Kingdom of Morocco, is the westernmost country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It overlooks the Mediterranean Sea to the north and the Atlantic Ocean to the west, and has land borders with Algeria to ...

performed particularly well in the middle- and long-distance track events. Newcomer Poland made an impact in its debut, taking nine golds with most of its athletes succeeding in the field events. Among the other nations competing,

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern, and Southeast Europe, Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, S ...

and

Mauritius Mauritius ( ; french: Maurice, link=no ; mfe, label=Mauritian Creole, Moris ), officially the Republic of Mauritius, is an island nation in the Indian Ocean about off the southeast coast of the African continent, east of Madagascar. It incl ...

managed four gold medals each. The competition attracted higher level performances and participation than in previous editions, in part due to the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

which was also held in Canada some two weeks later.

Bruny Surin Bruny Surin (born July 12, 1967) is a Canadian former track and field athlete, winner of a gold medal in the 4×100 metres relay at the 1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known a ...

was defeated by

Stéphan Buckland Stéphan Buckland (also written ''Stéphane Buckland;'' born 12 January 1977) is a retired Mauritian track and field athlete who competed in the 100 and 200 metres. Biography Buckland's international career began in 1998 after joining the IAA ...

in the men's

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

. Surin decided not to compete in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

as a result – a move which attracted criticism as he had reportedly been paid 250,000

Canadian dollars The Canadian dollar ( symbol: $; code: CAD; french: dollar canadien) is the currency of Canada. It is abbreviated with the dollar sign $, there is no standard disambiguating form, but the abbreviation Can$ is often suggested by notable style ...

to act as a Games ambassador.Beacon, Bill (2001-07-24)
Francophone Games near close in controversy

CBC Sports CBC Sports is the division of the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation responsible for English-language sports broadcasting. The CBC's sports programming primarily airs on CBC Television, CBCSports.ca, and CBC Radio One. (The CBC's French-languag ...

. Retrieved on 2011-02-09. The quality of the host stadium also came in for criticism from those attending the event, which one French official stating that "a poor African country" could have held the event to a better standard. Of the winners in Ottawa,

Perdita Felicien Perdita Felicien (born August 29, 1980) is a Canadian retired hurdler. Felicien is the 2003 World champion in the 100 metres hurdles and 2004 World indoor champion in the 60 metres hurdles. She also won silver medals at the 2007 World Champions ...

Szymon Ziółkowski Szymon Jerzy Ziółkowski (; born 1 July 1976 in Poznań) is a retired Poland, Polish hammer thrower and an Olympic Games, Olympic gold medal winner from 2000 Summer Olympics, Sydney 2000. He also won a gold medal at the 2001 World Championship ...

Amy Mbacké Thiam Amy Mbacké Thiam (born November 10, 1976) is a Senegalese athlete competing in the 400 metres. Biography She has won medals in two World Championships, but at the 2004 Olympics she was knocked out in the heats. She is best known for winning the ...

and

Nezha Bidouane Nezha Bidouane ( ar, نزهة بدوان; born on 18 September 1969 in Rabat) is a retired Moroccan track and field hurdler who specialised in the 400 metres hurdles. A two-time World champion, she won the 400 m hurdles gold medal at the 1997 ...

also went on to become gold medallists in their respective events at the World Championships.Un rendez-vous sportif sans pareil
. 2001 Jeux de la Francophonie. Retrieved on 2011-02-11. A number of other athletes went on to win minor medals on the world stage soon after –

Paweł Czapiewski Paweł Czapiewski (born 30 March 1978) is a former Polish middle-distance runner. He was born in Stargard. He came third in the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton in a personal best time of 1:44.63 minutes. Later that month he lowere ...

Dudley Dorival Dudley Dorival (born 1 September 1975) is a retired Haitian hurdler. He was born in Elizabeth, United States. Dorival graduated from Ewing High School in 1993 and attended and competed at the University of Connecticut. He is best known for his ...

, Monika Pyrek, Françoise Mbango-Etone and

Nicoleta Grasu Lenuţa Nicoleta Grasu is a retired Romanian discus thrower. She was born on 11 September 1971 in Secuieni as Nicoleta Grădinaru, but took a new surname when she married fellow discus thrower Costel Grasu. Grasu is best known for winning meda ...

Medal summary

Men

Women

Medal table

References

;Results
Full results
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-02-09.

External links

{{Jeux de la Francophonie Athletics

Jeux de la Francophonie The Jeux de la Francophonie (Canadian English: ''Francophonie Games''; British English: ''Francophone Games'') are a combination of artistic and sporting events for the Francophonie, mostly French-speaking nations and former colonies of France, ...

2001 Jeux de la Francophonie

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

2001 Jeux de la Francophonie