Monique Éwanjé-Épée

Éwanjé-Épée was born in Poitiers, France. She won the 1985 European Junior Championships 100 metres hurdles title in 13.10 secs. In 1988, she reached the Olympic final in Seoul, finishing seventh. In 1989, she won the 100 metres hurdles titles at both the Jeux de la Francophonie and the Universiade. In March 1990, she won a silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the European Indoor Championships in Glasgow, behind Ludmila Narozhilenko of the Soviet Union.

Éwanjé-Épée reached her peak in the 1990 outdoor season, improving her own French 100m hurdles record to 12.56 on 29 June. This was the second fastest time in the world for 1990, with only Nataliya Grigoryeva of the Soviet Union going faster with 12.53. On 30 August, Ewanje-Épée won the European title in Split with 12.79. At the end of the 1990 season, both Track and Field News magazine and the Athletics International Annual, ranked Ewanje-Épée the number one 100m hurdler on their world merit rankings, ahead of Grigoryeva. In the 1991 indoor season, she won a silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the World Indoor Championships in Seville, narrowly losing out to Narozhilenko by two-hundredths of a second. Outdoors, she finished fourth in the 100m hurdles final at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, behind Narozhilenko, Gail Devers and Grigoryeva.

Éwanjé-Èpée won a silver medal in the 60m hurdles at the 1992 European Indoor Championships in Genoa, once again behind Narozhilenko and ahead of Yordanka Donkova. Outdoors, she competed at her second Olympics, where she was eliminated in the heats of the 100m hurdles. Having missed the 1993 season through pregnancy, she returned in 1994 competing under her then married name of Monique Tourret, and went on to finish fourth in the 60m hurdles final at the 1995 World Indoor Championships. In 1996, she won a bronze medal in the 60m hurdles at the European Indoor Championships, before going on to compete at her third Olympic Games, where she was eliminated in the quarter-finals.[2]

Éwanjé-Épée is still the holder of the French national outdoor record for the women's 100m hurdles (12.56 sec), set on 29 June 1990 in Villeneuve d'Ascq, France. This record was equalled by Cindy Billaud in 2014. Her French national indoor record for the women's 60m hurdles (7.82 sec), set on 23 February 1991 in Paris, also still stands. It was equalled on 7 March 2004 by Linda Ferga at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest.

Éwanjé-Épée is married to gospel singer Frederick Lewin, with whom she has a son, Joachim (born 2006). She was previously married to the French pole vaulter Christophe Tourret, with whom she has two daughters, Marylou (1993) and Olivia (1997). Her elder sister, Maryse Éwanjé-Épée, is the French record holder in the high jump and reached the Olympic high jump final in 1984 and 1988.

• Fédération Française d'Athlétisme, ed. (2003), Docathlé2003 (in French), pp. 41, 117, 147, 175, 195, 214, 402, ISBN 2-9512343-3-3
• Siukonen, Markku & Ahola, Matti (1990), Sporttikustannus Oy (ed.), Suuri EM-kirja, p. 208, ISBN 951-8920-11-7
• Peter Matthews (Hrsg.): Athletics 1997. Surbiton 1997, ISBN 1-899807-02-0
• Ekkehard zur Megede: The Modern Olympic Century 1896-1996 Track and Field Athletics. Berlin 1999 (published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Leichtathletik-Dokumentation e.V.)

• Monique Éwanjé-Épée at Olympics at Sports-Reference.com (archived)
• Monique Éwanjé-Épée at Olympedia
• Monique Éwanjé-Épée at World Athletics