Larrieu, "Francie" (Frances)
Track and Field
b. Nov. 28, 1952, Palo Alto, CA
The sixth of nine children, Larrieu has an older brother, Ron, who ran for the U. S. Olympic team in 1964. She began racing at thirteen and won the first competition she ever entered, a 660-yard race for junior girls.
As a tiny sixteen-year-old, the 5-foot, 100-pound Larrieu was a crowd favorite, much like Mary Decker. By 1972, she had grown to 5-4 and 135 pounds and increased her stamina. She scored an unusual double that year, winning AAU national titles in the 1,500-meter and the cross-country, and she repeated that feat in 1973, winning the 1-mile and cross-country championships.
In 1975, Larrieu set a world record of 4:28.5 in the mile at the U. S.-Soviet Union indoor meet.
The national champion in the 1,500-meter in 1976, 1977, 1979, and 1980, Larrieu began racing at longer distances in 1979, when she won the national 3,000-meter title. She was also the 3,000-meter champion in 1982. As Francie Larrieu-Smith, she won the 10,000-meter event in 1985.
Larrieu competed in four Olympics. She qualified in the 1,500-meter in 1972 and 1976, in the 10,000-meter in 1988, and in the marathon in 1992, when her teammates chose her to carry the American flag in the opening ceremonies.
In 1999, Larrieu-Smith became men's and women's cross country/track and field coach at Southwestern University in Georgetown, Texas. Her husband, Jimmy Smith, is a professor of kinesiology at the school.