Élodie Ouédraogo (born 27 February 1981 in

Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Saint-Josse-ten-Noode ( French, ) or Sint-Joost-ten-Node ( Dutch, ), often simply called Saint-Josse in French or Sint-Joost in Dutch, is one of the 19 municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium. Located in the north-eastern part o ...

) is a retired Belgian sprinter of Burkinabé descent, who specializes 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 slight ...

and 400 m hurdles. An Olympic

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 b ...

ist, her personal best time in the 200 m is 23.11 seconds, achieved in July 2004 in

Brussels Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a Communities, regions and language areas of Belgium#Regions, region of Belgium comprising #Municipalit ...

, while her personal best in the 400 m hurdles is 55.20, achieved at the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

. Ouédraogo is also the joint third-fastest Belgian woman after Kim Gevaert and Olivia Borlée and equalling Nancy Callaerts with her best

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 contested at ...

time of 11.40. Her 200 metres best ranks her fourth amongst Belgian women after Gevaert, Borlée and Hanna Mariën. Her 400 m hurdles best places her as the second-fastest Belgian woman over the distance, after Ann Mercken.

Athletic career

In Ouédraogo's early career she concentrated on the 100 m hurdles, and participated in the 2000 World Junior Championships. She set a national record of 13.87 seconds for

Burkina Faso Burkina Faso is a landlocked country in West Africa, bordered by Mali to the northwest, Niger to the northeast, Benin to the southeast, Togo and Ghana to the south, and Ivory Coast to the southwest. It covers an area of 274,223 km2 (105,87 ...

, the country she represented until 2000. Her personal best time while competing for Belgium is 13.34 seconds, achieved in August 2003 in Jambes. Her Burkinabé national record was surpassed by Béatrice Kamboulé in 2007. Ouédraogo finished sixth in the

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the indiv ...

at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

with teammates Katleen De Caluwé, Lien Huyghebaert and Kim Gevaert. Ouédraogo also won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

at the

2005 Summer Universiade The 2005 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXIII Summer Universiade, took place in İzmir, Turkey, in August. Emblem The emblem is the letter "U", inspired by the bird's-eye view of the Gulf of İzmir. This shape has perfectly fit the letter ...

. At the 2007 World Championships she won a bronze medal in the 4 × 100 m relay with teammates Olivia Borlée, Hanna Mariën and Kim Gevaert, setting another national record. Ouédraogo represented Belgium at the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She competed at the 4 × 100 m relay together with Gevaert, Mariën and Borlée. In their first-round heat they placed first in front of

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and

Nigeria Nigeria, officially the Federal Republic of Nigeria, is a country in West Africa. It is situated between the Sahel to the north and the Gulf of Guinea in the Atlantic Ocean to the south. It covers an area of . With Demographics of Nigeria, ...

. Their time of 42.92 seconds was the third time overall out of sixteen participating nations. In the finals they finished in second place behind

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

in a national record time of 42.54 seconds, though after re-testing samples in 2016, Yuliya Chermoshanskaya's tests revealed two illegal substances. The Russian team was disqualified for doping, and the Belgian's team silver medal was upgraded to a gold medal. She qualified for the semi-finals of the 400 m hurdles at the

Miscellaneous

Ouédraogo retired from athletics in 2012 with the

Memorial Van Damme The Memorial Van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium, that takes place in late August or early September. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it now serves as a final event of the D ...

as her last event. She is married to cartoon artist Jeroom. She is the daughter of Marie Blandine Sawadogo.

References

External links

*
Élodie Ouédraogo
at All-Athletics.com * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Ouedraogo, Elodie 1981 births Living people People from Saint-Josse-ten-Noode Burkinabe female sprinters Burkinabe female hurdlers Belgian female sprinters Belgian female hurdlers Olympic athletes for Belgium 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 gold medalists for Belgium Belgian people of Burkinabe descent Sportspeople of Burkinabe descent World Athletics Championships athletes for Belgium World Athletics Championships medalists Medalists at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Belgium Black Belgian sportspeople 21st-century Belgian sportswomen Medalists at the 2005 Summer Universiade Athletes from Brussels Belgian Athletics Championships winners