Joalsiae Llado

Joalsiae "Josiane" Llado-Kremmer (born 27 November 1974) is a French former long-distance runner who competed in distances ranging from 3000 metres to a marathon.

Her career briefly flourished between 1996 and 1999, with her sole major title coming at the 1997 European Cross Country Championships. She broke the French record in the 5000 metres twice in 1998, resulting in a lifetime best of 15:11.26 minutes.

Career Born in Bordeaux, Llado made her senior international debut at the 1996 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, where she came 67th in the senior race. She made her first impact in 1997 when she was the surprise gold medallist at the 1997 European Cross Country Championships, seeing off the more favoured Elena Fidatov and Olivera Jevtic by a margin of more than ten seconds. She also led the French women's team to the top of the team podium.

The 1998 season was the most active her career. She began with an appearance at the 1998 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but failed to finish the distance. She took the first track medal of her career at the 1998 European Cup, finishing third in the 5000 metres for the bronze medal. She improved the French record for the event twice that year: first she ran 15:16.13 minutes at the Meeting Gaz de France in Paris, then improved this further to 15:11.26 minutes at the Golden Gala in Rome. She was chosen to represent France at the 1998 European Athletics Championships but she failed to finish the race. This proved to be the last outing of her career, as she retired in 2000.

Discussing the reasons for her retirement at her peak, she told sports journalist Pierre Morath is a 2008 television documentary Tu seras champion mon fils! that her father had pushed her to train as a young child at all costs. Her father continued as her coach into adulthood and she endured physical and sexual abuse by him. With her family reliant upon her athletics income, she felt unable to escape the situation but after her father emptied her bank accounts she fled to Lausanne, Switzerland to start a new life.

Personal bests 3000 metres – 8:49.98 min (1998) 5000 metres – 15:11.26 min (1998) Five miles – 27:02.00 min (1998) Marathon – 2:38:34 hrs (1999)

International competitions