Mélina Robert-Michon (; born 18 July 1979) is a French

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an ancient sport, as demonstrated by th ...

er. She was the silver medalist at the 2013 World Championships and 2016 Summer Olympics and the national record holder. She earned the bronze medal at the 2017 World Championships.

Discus career

At the 2013 World Championships in

Moscow Moscow ( , US chiefly ; rus, links=no, Москва, r=Moskva, p=mɐskˈva, a=Москва.ogg) is the capital and largest city of Russia. The city stands on the Moskva River in Central Russia, with a population estimated at 13.0 millio ...

, Robert-Michon won the discus silver medal with her last throw - a distance of 66.28 metres - which broke her own national record (65.78 m) set 11 years prior on 17 July 2002. Her 66.28 metres was much better than her hitherto, 2013 best distance of 63.75m. She had never finished better than eighth place in the final in her four previous

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

appearances. She became the first male or female French athlete to win a

medal in the discus event. Right after securing the silver medal, she told a television interviewer, "I had been working hard a long time for this. Since the start of the season, I said that I wanted to climb onto the podium. Many people laughed at it and did not quite believe it. I have been waiting so long for this.” In December 2013, Robert-Michon was chosen as the 2013 French female athlete of the year, according to an Internet poll taken from 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), competi ...

fraternity, in which more than 2500 votes were cast over two weeks. The poll was conducted by the

Fédération française d'athlétisme The French Athletics Federation (french: Fédération française d'athlétisme - ''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), ...

. On 25 June 2016, Robert-Michon won her 16th French National Discus Championship, by throwing 63.40 m, less than 1 metre more than the runner-up Pauline Pousse (62.68 m). She finished fifth at the 2016 European Championships in

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with a throw of 62.47m in the final, after having thrown 63.99m in the qualifying round (which would have been good enough for the bronze medal). Robert-Michon's achieved her best result in her fifth Olympic appearance at the

2016 Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

. 16 years after her first Olympic appearance at the

2000 Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 ( Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from ...

in Sydney, she won the silver medal at the age of 37; her throw of 66.73m in the final beat her own French national record and was 2.48 m less than the distance registered by the Croatian winner

Sandra Perković Sandra Perković (born 21 June 1990) is a Croatian discus thrower. She is a two-time Olympic (2012, 2016) and World (2013, 2017) champion and record six-time European champion ( 2010, 2012, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2022) which no other female athlete ...

. Robert-Michon finished in 2nd place at both the 2016 Meeting de Paris (27 August, 64.36 m) and the 2016 Weltklasse Zurich (1 September, 63.91 m), behind the winner

in both competitions. In December 2016, she was chosen for the second in her career as the 2016 French female athlete of the year, ahead of trail-runner Caroline Cheverot and 800 m European silver medalist Rénelle Lamote. After a difficult season struggled by minor injuries, the French managed to win the bronze medal at the World Championships in London behind Croatia's

and Australia's Dani Stevens, both former world champions. Her result of 66.21m is her best throw of the season, and the third best of his career (behind 66.73m in 2016 and 66.28m in 2013). In January 2018, she retained her « French female athlete of the year award » for the second consecutive year, this time for 2017, well ahead of world trail-runner champion Adeline Roche and 400 m runner Floria Gueï. She is the first athlete to win three times the award.

Family

Robert-Michon has a daughter named Elyssa, born on 24 August 2010. On 5 December 2017, she announced her second pregnancy.

Results in international competitions

Note: Only the position and distance in the final are indicated, unless otherwise stated. (q) means the athlete did not qualify for the final, with the overall position and distance in the qualification round indicated.

References

External links