Laurence Elloy

Laurence Elloy-Machabey (born 3 December 1959) is a French track and field athlete who competed in the sprint hurdles. She is a former French national record holder with her best of 12.69 seconds for the 100 metres hurdles. She twice represented France at both the Summer Olympics (1980, 1984) and the World Championships in Athletics (1983, 1987) and was a three-time participant at the European Athletics Championships.

Internationally, she won a gold medal at the 1979 Mediterranean Games and a silver medal at the 1985 IAAF World Indoor Games. She was a five-time outdoor national champion in the 100 m hurdles.

Career

Born in Rouen, she was the daughter of Colette Elloy – a 1952 Olympian for France in the 80 metres hurdles.^[1] Running for the Stade Dieppe athletic club, she made her international debut as a teenager at the 1977 European Athletics Junior Championships (coming fourth)^[2] then ran at the 1978 European Athletics Championships, where she competed in the 100 metres hurdles heats only.^[3] She rose on the regional scene with a gold medal win at the 1979 Mediterranean Games, succeeding her compatriot Nadine Fricault to the title.^[4] Elloy's first national title at the French Athletics Championships came in 1979 and she went on to win five such 100 m hurdles titles in the period up to 1986.^[5]

In her early career she was a frequent representative for France, but did not make major finals. She appeared at the Summer Olympics in 1980 and 1984, as well as the 1982 European Athletics Championships and 1983 World Championships in Athletics.^[1]^[6] Elloy began to feature more regularly in international finals from 1985 onwards. She placed fourth at the 1985 European Athletics Indoor Championships then took the silver medal in the 60 metres hurdles at the 1985 IAAF World Indoor Games held in Paris, one place ahead of fellow Frenchwoman Anne Piquereau.^[7] Outdoors that year she was the B-final winner of the 100 m hurdles at the 1985 European Cup.^[8] She improved her best to 12.79 seconds, which ranked her sixth globally in the 100 m hurdles for that year.^[9]

In the 1986 season she was fifth at the 1986 European Athletics Indoor Championships and then sixth at the 1986 European Athletics Championships – her highest placing yet at an outdoor European final. A lifetime best run of 12.69 seconds in Moscow was a French record that lasted for nine years. It made her the eighth fastest hurdler that season. She gave her best performance on the global stage the following year with a time of 12.83 seconds in the final at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics.^[9]

Elloy's final international appearances came in 1988, when she was fifth at the 1988 European Athletics Indoor Championships.^[9] She ranked third on the 1988 IAAF Grand Prix Final tour.^[10] It was also the last year that she won a national title, doing so in the 60 m hurdles at the French Indoor Championships.^[11]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
1977	European Junior Championships	Donetsk, Soviet Union	4th	100 m hurdles	13.85
1978	European Championships	Prague, Czechoslovakia	23rd (h)	100 m hurdles	14.07
1979	Mediterranean Games	Split, Yugoslavia	1st	100 m hurdles	13.87
1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	10th (sf)	100 m hurdles	13.33
1981	European Indoor Championships	Grenoble, France	–	50 m hurdles	DNF
1981	Universiade	Bucharest, Romania	7th	100 m hurdles	13.54
1982	European Championships	Athens, Greece	9th (sf)	100 m hurdles	13.07
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	9th (sf)	100 m hurdles	13.08
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	20th (h)	100 m hurdles	13.98
1985	World Indoor Games	Paris, France	2nd	60 m hurdles	8.08
	European Indoor Championships	Piraeus, Greece	4th	60 m hurdles	8.09
	European Cup B-final	Budapest, Hungary	1st	100 m hurdles	13.15
1986	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	5th	60 m hurdles	7.94
	Goodwill Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	4th	100 m hurdles	12.75
	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	6th	100 m hurdles	12.93
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	6th	100 m hurdles	12.83
1988	European Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	5th	60 m hurdles	7.95
1988	IAAF Grand Prix Final	West Berlin, West Germany	3rd	100 m hurdles	42.5 pts
(#) Indicates overall position in qualifying heats (h) or semifinals (sf)

^ ^a ^b Laurence Elloy-Machabey. Sports Reference. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ European Junior Championships 1977. World Junior Athletics History. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ European Athletics Championships Zürich 2014 - STATISTICS HANDBOOK. European Athletics Association, pp. 427-435. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ Mediterranean Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ ^a ^b French Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ Larence Elloy-Machabey. IAAF. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ IAAF World Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ European Cup B Final and First League. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ ^a ^b ^c Laurence Elloy. Track and Field Brinkster. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ IAAF Grand Prix Final. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.
^ ^a ^b French Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2016-02-20.

Butler, Mark (toim.) (2005), IAAF (ed.), IAAF Statistics Handbook: Helsinki 2005, p. 173
Siukonen, Markku; Ahola, Matti (1990), Sporttikustannus Oy (ed.), Suuri EM-kirja, Sporttikustannus, p. 160, ISBN 951-8920-11-7
Fédération Française d'Athlétisme, ed. (2003), Docathlé 2003 (in French), Fédération française d'athlétisme, pp. 41, 117, 147, 175, 195, 214, 402, ISBN 2-9512343-3-3