Jeannie Longo

Jeannie Longo

Personal information
Full name	Jeannie Longo
Born	(1958-10-31) 31 October 1958 Annecy, France
Team information
Medal record Women's cycling Competitor for  France Olympic Games Gold 1996 Atlanta Road cycling Silver 1992 Barcelona Road cycling Silver 1996 Atlanta Road time trial Bronze 2000 Sydney Road time trial UCI Track Worlds Gold 1986 Colorado Springs 3 km pursuit Gold 1988 Ghent 3 km pursuit Gold 1989 Lyon 3 km pursuit Gold 1989 Lyon Points race Silver 1984 Barcelona 3 km pursuit Silver 1985 Bassano 3 km pursuit Silver 1987 Vienna 3 km pursuit Bronze 1981 Brno 3 km pursuit Bronze 1982 Leicester 3 km pursuit Bronze 1983 Zürich 3 km pursuit UCI Road World Championships Gold 1985 Road race Gold 1986 Road race Gold 1987 Road race Gold 1989 Road race Gold 1995 Road race Gold 1995 Time trial Gold 1996 Time trial Gold 1997 Time trial Gold 2001 Time trial Silver 1981 Road race Silver 1993 Road race Silver 2000 Time trial Bronze 2001 Road race Bronze 1994 Time trial
Infobox last updated on 5 September 2008

Jeannie Longo (born 31 October 1958 in Annecy, Haute-Savoie) is a French racing cyclist, 59-time French champion and 13-time world champion. Longo is still active in cycling as of 2011 and is widely considered one of the greatest female cyclists of all time. She is famous for her competitive nature and her longevity in a sport where some of her competitors were not yet born during her first Olympic competition in 1984. She was selected to compete for France in the 2008 Olympics, her seventh Olympic Games.^[1] She had stated that this would be her final participation in the Olympics.^[2] In the Women's road race, she finished 24th, 33 seconds behind winner Nicole Cooke, who was one year old when Longo first rode in the Olympics.^[3] At the same Olympics, she finished 4th in the road time trial, just two seconds shy of securing a bronze medal.^[4]She is currently number two on the all-time list of French female summer or winter Olympic medal winners, with a total of four medals, which is one less than the total number won by the fencer Laura Flessel-Colovic.

Career

Longo was born in Annecy, Haute-Savoie, in the French Alps where she began her athletic career as a downhill skier. After winning the French schools' ski championship and three university skiing championships, she switched to cycling at the urging of her coach (and later husband) Patrice Ciprelli. Within a few months, Longo won the French road race Championship at the age of 21.

Doping affair

In September 2011, French sports daily L'Equipe reported that Longo's husband, Patrice Ciprelli, had purchased her the performance enhancing drug EPO from China via former American professional cyclist Joe Papp.^[5][6] The events dated back to April 2007, with L'Equipe publishing email exchanges between Papp, a Chinese contact and Ciprelli. Papp himself confirmed the dealings in an interview with L'Equipe and also documented the delivery of EPO to Yolande Ciprelli, a close relative of the couple who lives very near their home in the French Alps. "Ciprelli did not mention her name, but he talked of his wife," Papp told L'Equipe. "I understood that Longo was the beneficiary of the EPO, based on the messages. But he insisted to pay for it himself and that the package should be sent to a third person."^[7]

The charges prompted an investigation of Longo by the Fédération Française de Cyclisme (FFC)^[8] which cleared her in a November 2011 statement. In February of 2012 French authorities arrested Ciprelli; the case was ongoing as of December 2012.

A rider who competed against Longo, the U.S. cyclist Inga Thompson, alleged in a November 2012 U.S. radio interview that Longo had used performance enhancing drugs during at least the latter part of her career. ^[9]

She competed both in road and track bicycle racing events, and is an Olympic gold-medalist and thirteen-time world champion. Her palmares include:

• Olympic Games road race: Gold Medal/Champion (1996); Silver Medal (1992)
• Olympic Games time trial: Silver Medal (1996); Bronze Medal (2000)
• 5x UCI Road Race World Championship: Gold Medal/Champion (1985, 1986, 1987, 1989, 1995)
• 4x UCI Time Trial World Championship: Gold Medal/Champion (1995, 1996, 1997, 2001)
• 4x UCI Track World Championship:
  • Points Race: Gold Medal/Champion (1989)
  • 3 km Pursuit: Gold Medal/Champion (1986, 1988, 1989); Silver Medal (1984, 1985, 1987); Bronze Medal (1981, 1982, 1983)
• UCI Mountain Bike Championship: Silver Medal (1993)
• 15x French Road Race Champion: 1979 to 1989, 1992, 1995, 2006, 2008
• 10x French Time Trial Champion: 1995, 1999, 2001, 2002, 2003, 2006, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011
• 3x Tour Cycliste Feminin / Grande Boucle: 1987, 1988, 1989
• 2x Women's Challenge: 1991, 1999
• Set Hour Record (45.094 km/h) in 2000 in Mexico City (14 years after setting the best hour performance record)¹

Palmarès

Photo gallery

• 

  2000 Women's Challenge

• 

  Jeannie Longo, in red climber's jersey, leads a group uphill during the 2001 Women's Challenge.

• 

  Jeannie Longo during the 2009 Road World Championship in Mendrisio, Switzerland.

See also

• List of athletes with the most appearances at Olympic Games

References

1. ↑ "Longo to seventh Olympic Games". cyclingnews.com. 2 July 2008. 
2. ↑ "A French Cyclist’s Long Ride", New York Times, 28 July 2008.
3. ↑ "Canada's Hobson 17th in cold, wet, women's road cycling race". The Toronto Star. 10 August 2008. Retrieved 11 August 2008. 
4. ↑ "Women's cycling road race: Individual time trial -final". http://www.abc.net.au/ Australian Broadcasting Corporation. Retrieved 13 August 2008. 
5. ↑ http://www.nytimes.com/2012/02/09/sports/cycling/home-of-top-female-cyclist-searched.html
6. ↑ "Chronologie des faits - Retour sur la chronologie des événements de l'affaire Ciprelli.". L'Equipe. 8 February 2012. Retrieved 24 July 2013. 
7. ↑ "Papp reportedly sold EPO to Longo's husband". cyclingnews.com. September 13, 2011. Retrieved 24 July 2013. "E-mails indicate transaction and delivery to close relative in France" 
8. ↑ http://velonews.competitor.com/tag/jeannie-longo
9. ↑ The Competitors Radio Show, interview of Inga Thompson November 18, 2012, XEPRS-AM San Diego
10. ↑ http://www.velonews.com/article/91556/longo-wins-trophee-des-grimpeurs-again

External links

• Jeannie Longo's web site (in French language only)
• Some cycling records
• Jeannie Longo's Olympic sport reference

v t e UCI Road World Champions – Women's time trial 1994: Karen Kurreck 1995: Jeannie Longo 1996: Jeannie Longo 1997: Jeannie Longo 1998: Leontien van Moorsel 1999: Leontien van Moorsel 2000: Mari Holden 2001: Jeannie Longo 2002: Zulfiya Zabirova 2003: Joane Somarriba 2004: Karin Thürig 2005: Karin Thürig 2006: Kristin Armstrong 2007: Hanka Kupfernagel 2008: Amber Neben 2009: Kristin Armstrong 2010: Emma Pooley 2011: Judith Arndt 2012: Judith Arndt 2013: Ellen van Dijk