Ronald Pognon (born 16 November 1982) is a French sprint athlete.Athlete biography: Ronald Pognon
beijing2008.cn, retrieved Aug 26, 2008 He originally specialized 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 ...

, but later shifted to the shorter sprint distances. He was formerly the European record holder for the

60 metres 60 metres, or 60-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field. It is a championship event for indoor championships, normally dominated by the best outdoor 100 metres runners. At outdoor venues it is a rare distance, at least for senior at ...

indoors and is the first Frenchman to go under 10 seconds at the

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 ...

.European all-time lists, men's outdoor events
- European Athletics Association

Early career

As a junior athlete he participated at the 2000 World Junior Championships, winning a silver medal in the

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. He also competed individually in the

, without reaching the final. His personal best 200 m result at that time was 21.25 seconds, whereas his personal best 100 m result was 10.50 seconds. Two years later he had improved to 20.65 and 10.24 seconds respectively, and reached the 200 m semifinals at the 2002 European Championships. At the 2002 European Championships he also finished fourth in 4 × 100 m relay with teammates

David Patros David Patros (born 11 September 1977) is a retired French sprinter. Born in Paris, he finished fifth in relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics, with teammates Frédéric Krantz, Christophe Cheval and Needy Guims. At the 2002 European Championships ...

Issa-Aimé Nthépé Issa-Aimé Nthépé (born 26 June 1973 in Douala) is a French sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres. He switched nationality from his birth country Cameroon in 1999. At the 2002 European Championships he finished fifth in the 100 metres ...

and

Jérôme Éyana Jérôme Éyana (born 5 July 1977 in Paris) is a French sprinter who specializes in the 100 metres and 60 metres. He competed in the men's 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2000 Summer Olympics. At the 2002 European Championships he finished fourth ...

. He then shifted focus to the 100 metres. He reached the semifinals in this event at both the 2003 World Championships and the

2004 Olympic Games The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

. At the Olympics he also competed in the

relay A relay Electromechanical relay schematic showing a control coil, four pairs of normally open and one pair of normally closed contacts An automotive-style miniature relay with the dust cover taken off A relay is an electrically operated switch ...

, but failed to reach the final with the French team. He lowered his personal best time to 10.13 seconds in 2003 and 10.11 in 2004, both times in the town

Castres Castres (; ''Castras'' in the Languedocian dialect, Languedocian dialect of Occitan language, Occitan) is the sole Subprefectures in France, subprefecture of the Tarn (department), Tarn Departments of France, department in the Occitania (administ ...

Breakthrough

In 2005 he started the season by setting a French indoor record in the

, with 6.45 seconds on 2 March in

Karlsruhe Karlsruhe ( , , ; South Franconian: ''Kallsruh'') is the third-largest city of the German state (''Land'') of Baden-Württemberg after its capital of Stuttgart and Mannheim, and the 22nd-largest city in the nation, with 308,436 inhabitants. ...

. He won the silver medal in the same event at the 2005 European Indoor Championships. He competed at the 2005 World Championships in both 100 and

, but did not reach the final; however, in the

4 × 100 m relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

he won a gold medal together with teammates

Ladji Doucouré Ladji Doucouré (born 28 March 1983 in Juvisy-sur-Orge, department of Essonne in France) is a French track and field athlete. Biography Ladji Doucouré's father and mother was Malian and Senegalese respectively. Ladji Doucouré was a football p ...

, Eddy De Lépine and Lueyi Dovy. He rounded off the season by finishing fifth in the 2005 World Athletics Final. He also set personal best times in both 100 and 200 metres that season. 9.99 seconds in the Lausanne Super Grand Prix in July, and 20.27 seconds in the

Rieti Rieti (; lat, Reate, Sabino: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, with a population of 47,700. It is the administrative seat of the province of Rieti and see of the diocese of Rieti, as well as the modern capital of the Sabina re ...

Grand Prix in August. He became the first Frenchman to go under 10 seconds, and only four Europeans had run faster:

Francis Obikwelu Francis Obiorah Obikwelu, GOIH (born 22 November 1978) is a retired Nigerian-born Portuguese sprinter, who specialized in 100 metres and 200 metres. He was the 2004 Olympic silver medalist in the 100 metres. In the same race, he se ...

(9.86),

Linford Christie Linford Cicero Christie (born 2 April 1960) is a Jamaican-born British former sprinter. He is the only British man to have won gold medals in the 100 metres at all four major competitions open to British athletes: the Olympic Games, the World ...

(9.87),

Dwain Chambers Dwain Anthony Chambers (born 5 April 1978) is a British track sprinter. He has won international medals at World and European levels and is one of the fastest European sprinters in the history of athletics. His primary event is the 100 me ...

(9.97) and

Jason Gardener Jason Carl Gardener, (born 18 September 1975) is a retired British sprint athlete. A fast starter from the blocks, he won an Olympic gold medal leading off Great Britain in the 4 x 100 metres relay at the 2004 Olympic Games, and is also the ...

(9.98). In 2006 he finished sixth at the 2006 World Indoor Championships, fourth at the 2006 European Championships and sixth at the 2006 World Athletics Final, the latter in a season's best time of 10.10 seconds. At the European Championships he helped win a bronze medal in the relay, behind Great Britain and Poland, together with an entirely new team: Oudéré Kankarafou, Pognon, Fabrice Calligny and

David Alerte David Alerte (born 18 September 1984 in La Trinité, Martinique) is a French sprinter who specializes in the 200 metres. At the 2006 European Championships in Gothenburg he finished seventh in the 200 metres and won a bronze medal in the 4 x ...

. At the end of the season, Pognon was selected for the 2006 World Cup, finishing fifth in the 100 metres.

Later career

The 2007 season saw Pognon win a bronze medal in 60 metres at the 2007 European Indoor Championships. He had run the 60 metres in 6.55 seconds, better than the year before. However, during the outdoor season he did not compete. He returned to competition in 2008, running only 6.68 in the 60 m indoors but managing 10.13 seconds in July in Rethimno to qualify for the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games or Olympics (french: link=no, Jeux olympiques) are the leading international sporting events featuring summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a var ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Competing in the 100 metres event, he placed third in his heat behind

Tyrone Edgar Tyrone Damien Edgar (born 29 March 1982 in Greenwich) is a sprinter from Great Britain who specializes in the 100 metres.

and

Darvis Patton Darvis "Doc" Darell Patton (born December 4, 1977) is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in sprinting events. He is a two-time US Champion in the 200-meter dash and won the silver medal in the event at the 2003 World Champi ...

in a time of 10.26 seconds. He qualified for the second round in which he improved his time to 10.21 seconds; however, he was unable to qualify for the semifinals as he finished in fourth place. He did not participate in the

, although France did field a team. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he was part of the French 4 × 100 m relay team that went on to finish 3rd in the final, winning the bronze medal.

Statistics

:''As of April 2, 2014''

Personal bests

*All information from IAAF Profile

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Pognon, Ronald 1982 births Living people People from Le Lamentin French male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of France Olympic bronze medalists for France Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Martiniquais athletes French people of Martiniquais descent World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) World Athletics Championships winners