Maryse Éwanjé-Épée

Maryse Éwanjé-Epée

Personal information
Nationality	French
Born	(1964-09-04) September 4, 1964 Poitiers, France
Height	1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight	62 kg (137 lb)
Sport
Country	France
Sport	Athletics
Event	High jump
Medal record European Indoor Championships 1984 Gothenburg High jump 1983 Budapest High jump 1989 The Hague High jump Summer Universiade 1983 Edmonton High jump Jeux de la Francophonie 1989 Rabat High jump Mediterranean Games 1983 Casablanca High jump

Maryse Éwanjé-Épée (born September 4, 1964, in Poitiers, France) is a retired high jumper from France.

She represented France in the high jump at the 1984 and 1988 Summer Olympics. She set a French national outdoor record of 1.96 m in 1985. Ewanje-Epee also held the NCAA high jump record from 1985 to 1996 with 1.96 m.

Athletics career

Maryse Éwanjé-Épée set her outdoor personal best on July 21, 1985, jumping 1.96 metres at the French National Athletics Championships in Colombes, France. That was a French national outdoor record that remained unmatched for the next 22 years. Melanie Melfort equalled it by jumping 1.96 metres on August 11, 2007. Éwanjé-Épée's indoor personal best was 1.95 metres, set in 1984.

Éwanjé-Épée won three high jump medals (one silver and two bronzes) at the European Indoor Championships, one high jump bronze medal at the Summer Universiade and one high jump gold medal each at the Jeux de la Francophonie and the Mediterranean Games. She competed for France in the high jump in two consecutive Summer Olympics in 1984 and 1988. She finished 4th and 10th in the Olympic high jump final of 1984 and 1988 respectively. She could not take part in the 1992 and 1996 Summer Olympics because of her failure to clear the minimum Olympic qualifying height by a mere centimetre for both of these Olympics. She won eight indoor high jump and eight outdoor high jump French National Athletics Championships titles at the senior level from 1982 to 1996.

Éwanjé-Épée also attended the University of Arizona, in Tucson (United States) and she still holds the heptathlon record since that time. She held the NCAA high jump record from 1985 to 1996 with 1.96 meters. In 1985, Arizona went 1–2–3 in the NCAA Championships with Katrena Johnson in first place, Maryse Éwanjé-Épée in second, and Camille Harding in third.

Later career

After her retirement from high jumping competition in 1996, Éwanjé-Épée worked as a television sports interviewer, sports administrator, sport consultant and radio/television presenter. She is also the writer of three books, including a biography of Jesse Owens: Jesse, la fabuleuse histoire de Jesse Owens (2016).

Personal life

Éwanjé-Épée's father, Charles Éwanjé-Épée, is a Camerounian guitarist-singer-songwriter. Her mother, Geneviève Pujol, had a Spanish Catalan grandfather. Maryse Éwanjé-Épée has three sisters and no brothers; her younger sister, Monique Éwanjé-Épée, competed for France in the 60m hurdles and 100m hurdles.

Maryse Éwanjé-Épée married Marc Maury in 1988. They have three daughters (Mélissa, Tanya, Maïa) and one son (Mikka). She and Marc Maury divorced in 2007.

Éwanjé-Épée speaks French, English and Spanish fluently.

Results in international competitions

• Note: Only the position and height in the final are indicated, unless otherwise stated. (q) means the athlete did not qualify for the final, with the overall position and height in the qualification round indicated.

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
1982	European Indoor Championships	Milan, Italy	10th	1.88 m
1983	European Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	3rd	1.92 m
	Universiade	Edmonton, Canada	3rd	1.92 m
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	12th	1.84 m
	Mediterranean Games	Casablanca, Morocco	1st	1.89 m
1984	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	2nd	1.95 m
	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	4th	1.94 m
1985	European Indoor Championships	Piraeus, Greece	8th	1.80 m
1986	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	5th	1.90 m
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	10th	1.90 m
1989	European Indoor Championships	The Hague, Netherlands	3rd	1.91 m
	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	13th	1.85m
	Jeux de la Francophonie	Rabat, Morocco	1st	1.88 m
	Universiade	Duisburg, West Germany	7th	1.80 m
1990	European Indoor Championships	Glasgow, Scotland	10th	1.84 m
	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	18th (q)	1.75 m

External links

• Maryse Éwanjé-Épée at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Maryse Éwanjé-Épée at World Athletics
• World women's all-time best high jump