Mélina Robert-Michon

Mélina Robert-Michon

Mélina Robert-Michon at the DécaNation 2014.
Personal information
Born	(1979-07-18) 18 July 1979 Voiron, France
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Weight	83 kg (183 lb)
Sport
Country	France
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Discus
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	66.73 metres (2016) NR
Medal record Representing  France Olympic Games 2016 Rio de Janeiro Discus throw World Championships 2013 Moscow Discus throw European Championships 2014 Zürich Discus throw Universiade 2001 Beijing Discus throw Jeux de la Francophonie 2001 Ottawa Discus throw Mediterranean Games 2009 Pescara Discus Throw European Cup Winter Throwing 2014 Leiria Discus throw World Junior Championships 1998 Annecy Discus throw European Athletics U23 Championships 2001 Amsterdam Discus throw

Mélina Robert-Michon (born 18 July 1979) is a French discus thrower. She is silver medalist from the 2013 World Championships, 2016 Summer Olympics and a national record holder.

Discus career

At the 2013 World Championships in Moscow, 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 ago 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 appearances. She became the first male or female French athlete to win a World Championships 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.” ^[1][2][3]

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 fraternity, in which more than 2500 votes were cast over two weeks. The poll was conducted by the Fédération française d'athlétisme.^[4]

On 25 June 2016, Mélina Robert-Michon won her 16th French National Discus Championship throwing 63.40m just in front of Pauline Pousse^[5] then she finished fifth at the European Championships at Amsterdam with a throw of 62.47m, after having thrown 63.99m in the qualifying rounds (which would have been good enough for the bronze medal).^[6]

On 16 August 2016, her fifth Olympic appearance was her best: 16 years after her first participation at the Sydney 2000 Olympics, she threw, at 37 years old, and won the silver medal, beating her French national record (66.73m), behind the Croatian Sandra Perkovic, who won the title. On the 27 August, Melina took 2nd place at the Meeting of Paris with a throw of 64.36m, then after that she took second place again, on the 1st September, at the Weltklasse Zurich (63.91 m), just behind winner the Sandra Perković of both competitions.^[7]

Family

Robert-Michon has a daughter named Elyssa, born on 24 August 2010.^[8]

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.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing  France
1998	World Junior Championships	Annecy, France	2nd	55.01 m
	European Championships	Budapest, Hungary	29th (q)	47.88 m
1999	Universiade	Palma de Mallorca, Spain	8th	56.81 m
	European U23 Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	12th	50.75 m
2000	Olympic Games	Sydney, Australia	29th (q)	54.11 m
2001	European U23 Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	1st	58.52 m
	Jeux de la Francophonie	Ottawa, Canada	3rd	56.81 m
	World Championships	Edmonton, Canada	20th (q)	56.22 m
	Universiade	Beijing, China	3rd	58.04 m
2002	European Championships	Munich, Germany	12th	54.92 m
2003	World Championships	Paris, France	11th	58.52 m
	European Cup	Florence, Italy	2nd	61.67 m
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	31st (q)	56.70 m
2005	Mediterranean Games	Almería, Spain	6th	51.80 m
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	17th (q)	53.77 m
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	11th	57.81 m
2008	European Cup Winter Throwing	Split, Croatia	2nd	59.93 m
	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	8th	60.66 m
2009	Mediterranean Games	Pescara, Italy	1st	61.17 m
	European Team Championships	Leiria, Portugal	2nd	61.41 m
	World Athletics Final	Thessaloniki, Greece	3rd	61.74 m
	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	8th	60.92 m
2012	European Cup Winter Throwing	Bar, Montenegro	3rd	63.03 m
	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	6th	60.41 m
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	5th	63.98 m
2013	European Team Championships	Gateshead, England	1st	63.75 m
	European Cup Winter Throwing	Castellón de la Plana, Spain	2nd	61.26 m
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	2nd	66.28 m
2014	European Championships	Zürich, Switzerland	2nd	65.33 m
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	10th	60.92 m
2016	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brasil	2nd	66.73 m NR

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Mélina Robert-Michon.

• Mélina Robert-Michon profile at IAAF
• Mélina Robert-Michon at sports-reference