Élodie Gossuin

Biography

Élodie Gossuin-Lacherie (née Gossuin; born 15 December 1980) is a French beauty pageant titleholder, model, radio and television presenter, columnist and regional politician. She was elected Miss Picardy 2000, Miss France 2001 (she is the 72nd Miss France), and Miss Europe 2001. She was the French voting spokesperson in the Eurovision Song Contest from 2016 to 2018 and again in 2022. She also co-hosted the Junior Eurovision Song Contest 2021 held in Paris.

== Early life and education == Élodie Gossuin was born in Reims in the department of Marne to Lysiane Triquet and Yves Gossuin, she has a sister [1][2] and she was raised in Trosly-Breuil in the region of Picardy, a village about 10 kilometers east of the city of Compiègne in the department of Oise. In her teens, she won several local beauty contests. While training to be a nurse, she obtained her final high school exam in the science field with the biology option. She then studied at the Faculté de Médecine of Amiens and then studied in a nursing school.

== Miss France and Miss Europe ==

She won the Miss Picardy beauty contest in November 2000, which qualified her to compete for the Miss France 2001 title in Monaco on 9 December 2000, broadcast directly on TF1 with an audience of 14 million viewers. She won that contest and as a result received considerable press coverage. Her Miss France runners-up were:

1st runner-up: Stéphanie Faby (Miss Corsica) 2nd runner-up: Marine Clouet (Miss Poitou) 3rd runner-up: Nawal Benhlal (Miss Lyons) 4th runner-up: Élise Duboquet (Miss Flanders) 5th runner-up: Carine Bedoya (Miss Midi-Pyrénées) 6th runner-up: Estelle Rouquette (Miss Cévennes) For one year, Gossuin travelled in France with Geneviève de Fontenay, president of the Miss France committee. She was ranked in the Top 10 at the Miss Universe 2001 contest in Bayamón, Puerto Rico. She then won the Miss Europe 2001 contest in Beirut, Lebanon, and then began working as a model and making publicity appearances. Her Miss Europe runners-up were:

1st runner-up: Adriana Gerczew (Poland) 2nd runner-up: Karla Milinović (Croatia) 3rd runner-up: Hatice Şendil (Turkey) 4th runner-up: Verónica Martín (Spain) In 2003, she became the spokesmodel for the brand Lucie Saint-Clair, an international hairdresser. That same year, her fan club and her official website were created. Since September 2010, she has been the representative in Europe of Royal Extension, a brand of hair extensions.

== Politics == In 2003, Gossuin embarked on a political career. She was elected in Oise on the list of UDF-UMP party led by Gilles de Robien, and became a Regional Councillor in her native Picardy region on 28 March 2004. Her work and attendance at the Regional Council earned her the recognition of her political opponents. Standing at seventh position in the list of the presidential majority led by Caroline Cayeux during the regional elections of 2010, she temporarily lost her mandate for a few months, but returned to the Regional Council after the resignation of Édouard Courtial on 14 October 2010.

== Television presenter ==