She became France's first high jump champion at the 1946 European Athletics Championships and held the French record for the event for ten years.

[1] Standing at a height of 1.82 m (5 ft 11+1⁄2 in) – unusually tall for a woman in that era – she found she had a natural talent for high jump and basketball.

As of 2015, Colchen remains the only French woman to win a European high jump title (Jacques Madubost won the men's event in 1966).

[4] She followed this with a silver medal in the 4×100 metres relay, running alongside her compatriots Léa Caurla, Claire Brésolles and Monique Drilhon to finish behind a Fanny Blankers-Koen-led Dutch team.

[1] Over the course of her career Colchen was a four-time national champion at the French Athletics Championships, winning straight titles from 1946 to 1950, with the exception of 1947 when Micheline Ostermeyer was the victor.

A loss to Chile in the final round meant the French women came third overall, taking the bronze medal behind the host nation and the American winners.

The 1954 event saw France beat Austria and Italy to qualify for the final round, but they performed poorly once there, losing all five games to bottom the group in sixth.

[19] Among her other honours are the Médaille d'or de l'Education Physique (1945) and the Palme académique des Chevaliers du Mérite sportif.