Maria Mutola

track and field athlete

Personal Information

Born Maria de Lurdes Mutola, October 27, 1972, in Maputo, Mozambique.
Education: Attends Lane Community College, Eugene, OR.

Career

One of the fastest female 800-meter runners in history. Was best female soccer player in Mozambique as a youth; joined country's leading track club as teenager; won national titles in 400-meter run and 800-meter run; competed in first Olympics, 1988; came to the United States to train, 1991; finished fourth in the 800-meter run in World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, 1991; was youngest finalist in women's 800-meter run and 1500-meter run at Olympic Games, 1992; won 800-meter run in World Indoor Track and field Championships, 1993, 1995; won 800-meter run in World Outdoor Track and Field Championships, 1993; won 42 straight 800-meter races, 1992-95; ran seventh fastest 800-meter run (1:55.19) of all time in women's track, 1994; set outdoor record in women's 1000- meter run (2:29.34), 1995; set indoor record in women's 1,000-meter run (2:32.08), 1996; holds Mozambique track records for women in every distance from 400 through 3,000 meters.

Life's Work

Dominating her fellow runners in the middle distance events, Maria Mutola became one of the world's most consistent winners on the women's track and field circuit in the 1990s. She was undefeated against top international competition while maintaining an active performance schedule in her premier event, the 800-meter run, from the fall of 1992 until her fluke disqualification in the World Track and Field Championships in August of 1995. Her personal best of 1:55.19 in the 800 meters was the seventh fastest in history as of April, 1996.

One of seven children, Mutola grew up in a poor area of Maputo, the capital of Mozambique. Her first athletic passion was soccer, and by age 13 she was the best female player in her country. "She had the right stuff to handle herself," said Craig T. Greenlee in Upscale--"Speed, nifty footwork, tough mindedness and a refusal to back down from the dudes." Mutola played on a boys' team because there were no female soccer teams in Mozambique, but her scoring of a tying goal in the city championship led to protests by the opposing team. "They said it was a big problem to play a girl with the boys," claimed Mutola according to Reebok, her sponsor in track and field.

While on the soccer field, Mutola's speed and endurance were noted by Jose Craverinhas, Mozambique's most renowned poet. He mentioned the athlete's talent to his son Stelio Craverinhas, who coached the country's top track club. When Mutola was approached to join the club, she was at first reluctant to make the shift into running-- especially after her initial workouts with the team. "In soccer we used to practice four days a week," she told Reebok. "Today practice, tomorrow a rest day. Track and field every day. I said, `Oh my God!'" Mutola went back to the soccer field, but Craverinhas pursued her and enticed her to return to the track. Her conversion soon paid off, as Mutola won national titles in the 400-meter and 800-meter runs and became part of the national team after just a few months of training. Two years later she won the African championships in the events.

Developing rapidly, Mutola earned a spot on Mozambique's contingent for the 1998 Olympics in Seoul, South Korea. She was also selected to carry her nation's flag in the opening ceremonies. Just 15 years old, Mutola managed a highly respectable 2:04.36 time in the 800- meter heats at the Olympics, but did not make it past the opening round. By this time she was famous in her home country, and the subject of frequent articles and magazines in Mozambique and bordering South Africa.

After the Olympics Mutola went into a holding pattern for the next few years, with her yearly bests actually declining in 1989 (2:05.70) and 1990 (2:13.54). Rumors spread about her moving to Portugal to train, but instead she moved to the United States on a scholarship set up by the International Olympic Solidarity program. This program made it possible for athletes from poor countries to live in settings with better training opportunities. In May of 1991 Mutola arrived in Oregon and became a student in Springfield High School because one its teachers spoke Portuguese, her native language. Her new school was also near Eugene, site of the University of Oregon and a renowned haven for runners.

Moving to the United States proved to be a boon for Mutola's running. During the summer of 1991 she broke every Mozambique record in distances from 400 through 3,000 meters. Since her arrangement with Olympic Solidarity banned her from prep competition, Mutola competed in meets around the United States against top international competitors. She shone in her first 800- meter race against the world's best when she staged a come-from- behind victory in the New York Track and Field Games at Columbia University's Wein Stadium in July, in a time of 2:00.22. A stress fracture hindered her in the 1991 World Track and Field Championships, but she still managed to finish fourth in a junior world-record time of 1:57.63.

At the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, Spain, Mutola turned in solid fifth-place and ninth-place finishes in the finals of the 800-meter run and 1500-meter run, respectively. Nineteen years old at the time, she was the youngest finalist in both events. After a loss in a meet in September in Berlin to Olympic champion Ellen van Langen, she began her incredible streak of victories in the 800 meters that spanned over 40 races in almost three years. Many high points marked her 1993 season, both indoors and out. She placed first in the 800 meters in the World Indoor Track and Field Championships that year in a time of 1:57.55, then ran the fastest 800-meter time ever in the United States outdoors (1:56.56) in her return to the Reebok New York Games. She confirmed her domination by beating the world's best with a blazing 1:55.43 in the 1993 World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Stuttgart, Germany. The second place finisher clocked in at 1.67 seconds behind, making Mutola's margin of victory the largest in any world championship or Olympic final. For the year she broke the 1:57 barrier five times, more than twice as often as any other female runner.

When Track & Field News named Mutola as the top women's 800-meter runner for 1993, the 21-year-old athlete became the second-youngest ever to be so honored in the event. Mutola stayed in the fast lane the next year, hitting another high point in the Weltklasse meet in Zurich, Switzerland, with a victory time of 1:55.19. Her mark in the race was the fastest for that distance in five years, and the seventh fastest of all time. Once again in 1994 she was designated the world's top runner in the 800 meters by Track & Field News. The magazine also rated her as the number two female track athlete overall for the year.

Continuing to build on her unbeaten string in 1995, Mutola won by a margin of over two seconds in the World Indoor Track and Field Championships at Barcelona. She also produced the world's fastest time for a woman at 1500 meters (4:01.6) in her only attempt at the distance for the year. Her winning streak came to an unexpected end in the World Outdoor Track and Field Championships in Goteborg, Sweden, when she ran outside her lane in a semifinal heat and was disqualified. The eventual victor, Ana Quirot of Cuba, had lost to Mutola in a race in Monaco two weeks before the championships. Despite this setback, Mutola's domination during the year earned her a third consecutive number-one ranking in her event.

Continuing to show that she was equally invincible indoors and out, Mutola set a new world's record in the 1000-meter run in Birmingham, England, in February of 1996. Her time of 2:32.08 took nearly two seconds off the previous best mark, which had been set 18 years earlier. "I think I can break it again," said Mutola after the race, according to Track & Field News. Eight days later in a meet in Lievin, France, she followed up this performance with the second fastest 800 meters ever run indoors (1:57.13). Around this time she also announced her intention to run both the 800 meters and 1500 meters in the upcoming Olympic Games to be held in Atlanta, Georgia. "It will be hard, but I've been doing longer distances this winter in preparation," she told Track & Field News about her plan in the April 1996 issue. At just 23 years old, Maria Mutola has already secured a spot for herself in the Track and Field Hall of Fame.

Awards

Runner-up, Women's Athlete of the Year, Track & Field News, 1993; ranked number one in women's 800-meter run in Track & Field News, 1993-95.

Further Reading

• Everybody's: The Caribbean-American Magazine, July 31, 1993, p. 26.
• New York Times, February 27, 1993, p. 32; February 11, 1996, p. S10.
• Track & Field News, February 1994, pp. 8, 21; May 1995, p. 33; October 1995, p. 31; December 1995, p. 38; January 1996, p. 10, 44; April 1996, p. 25.
• Upscale, December/January 1995, pp. 104, 125.
• Weekly Journal, August 5, 1993, p. 16.
• Other information for this profile was obtained from Reebok International Limited publicity materials.

— Ed Decker

This article's introduction section may not adequately summarize its contents. To comply with Wikipedia's lead section guidelines, please consider expanding the lead to provide an accessible overview of the article's key points. (July 2009)

Medal record
Maria Mutola
Women's Athletics
Competitor for  Mozambique
Olympic Games
Gold	2000 Sydney	800 m
Bronze	1996 Atlanta	800 m
World Championships
Gold	1993 Stuttgart	800 m
Gold	2001 Edmonton	800 m
Gold	2003 Paris	800 m
Silver	1999 Seville	800 m
Bronze	1997 Athens	800 m
World Indoor Championships
Gold	1993 Toronto	800 m
Gold	1995 Barcelona	800 m
Gold	1997 Paris	800 m
Gold	2001 Lisbon	800 m
Gold	2003 Birmingham	800 m
Gold	2004 Budapest	800 m
Gold	2006 Moscow	800 m
Silver	1999 Maebashi	800 m
Bronze	2008 Valencia	800 m
Commonwealth Games
Gold	1998 Kuala Lumpur	800 m
Gold	2002 Manchester	800 m
Bronze	2006 Melbourne	800 m

Maria de Lurdes Mutola (born October 27, 1972) is an athlete from Mozambique who has specialized in the 800 m. She was born in Maputo.

Contents 1 Teenage years 2 Athletic domination 3 Status in 800 m race history 4 Other work 5 Best times 6 800 m honours 7 References 8 External links

Teenage years

Mutola was born in the Chamanculo district of Maputo. Her father was employed by the railways and her mother was a market vendor. As a young girl she excelled in football. She played with boys, as there were no leagues or teams for girls. In 1988, at only fifteen years of age, she was encouraged to take up athletics by one of Mozambique's foremost literary figures, the poet Jose Craveirinha, who was a keen sports fan. His son Stelio, himself a former national long jump record holder, was Mutola's first coach. Not used to the intensive training, Mutola initially decided that running was not for her, but was persuaded to continue when it became obvious that she had immense potential. After a visit to Portugal, plans were made for her to join the Benfica athletics club but at the last minute the Mozambique government denied her permission. That year, after only a few months' training, she won a silver medal in the 800 m at the African Championships, before competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics. She ran a personal best time of 2:04.36, but finished last in her first round heat. Mutola was still only fifteen years old.

Over the next few years Mutola failed to improve on her best time, but still won gold at the African Championships in Cairo in 1990. She faced little opposition in Mozambique and only trained properly in the run-up to big competitions. Attempts were made to organise scholarships for her to train abroad, but it was not until 1991 that, thanks to an International Olympic Committee Solidarity Program, she went to Oregon, USA to study and train. Springfield High School was the host school, due to the fact that there was a Portuguese-speaking staff member (Mutola spoke no English). She surprised many by finishing 4th in the final of the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo, where her time of 1:57.63 constituted a World Junior Record. Mutola lost out on a medal because she was severely impeded in the final few metres by falling athletes and an unsuccessful protest was lodged.

At the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona there were great hopes for Mutola to win Mozambique's first Olympic medal. She ran strongly but faded badly in the home straight, eventually finishing fifth behind eventual winner Ellen van Langen. At the same Games, Mutola ran her only 1500 m at an international championship, placing 9th in the final. She also won the IAAF World Cup 800 m and was the only person to beat Ellen van Langen throughout the whole year.

Athletic domination

Over the next few years, Mutola dominated the 800 m event, winning the 800 m title at the 1993 and 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics and the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Athletics. At the latter event, held in Stuttgart she won by over two seconds, the biggest ever winning margin in an international women's 800 m final. A favourite for the world outdoor title in 1995 as well, she was disqualified in her semi final for stepping outside of her lane. Some consolation came at the Memorial van Damme meeting a few weeks after the championships, when she broke the world record for 1000 m, becoming the first woman ever to run the distance in less than two and a half minutes. She also went on to break the world indoor record for 1000 m.

Her immense success and her total domination of the event during this period can be attributed to the guidance that she has received since 1991 from Margo Jennings. Jennings was a track coach at Springfield High School and continued to coach Mutola even when she had relocated from Oregon to Johannesburg to escape the high pollen count. Jennings faxes Mutola's training schedules to her in South Africa, and has also coached other world class 800 m runners like Kelly Holmes, Namibian athlete Agnes Samaria and Tina Paulino, who is actually a distant relative of Mutola's.

At the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, Mutola was a hot favourite for the gold, as she hadn't been beaten in an 800 m final since 1992 and her winning streak stretched to over forty 800 m and 1000 m finals. However, suffering from the flu, she ended up finishing third behind Svetlana Masterkova and Ana Quirot. Later in 1996 Mutola lost her world 1000 m record to Masterkova.

Status in 800 m race history

Mutola is often ranked as the greatest female 800 m runner of all time. She has not gained a world record, but her consistency, her record at major championships and her ability to compete at the highest levels of the sport for well over a decade are unmatched. (The 2008 Olympics were her sixth successive Olympics.)

Mutola won bronze in the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athletics and silver in 1999. She also won the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics in 1997, only weeks after her father had been killed in a car accident. She raced wearing a black ribbon and dedicated the victory to his memory. In total she has won nine world 800 m titles including both indoor and outdoor championships. She won the Commonwealth Games twice, after Mozambique was admitted to the Commonwealth in 1995, and has also won the IAAF World Cup event, representing the Africa team, four times consecutively.

Her greatest moment, though, came at the Sydney Olympics in 2000, when Mutola finally won Olympic gold. She beat her major rival Stephanie Graf and Kelly Holmes. She returned to Mozambique after her Olympic victory, huge crowds came to cheer her and a road was named after her in Maputo.

She continued her successes in the 2001 season, grabbing the world title in Edmonton and again in 2003 in Paris. It was widely felt that Mutola ran tactically during the 2003 race by setting a slow pace in order to aid her training partner Kelly Holmes. As a result of such a strategy Holmes was able to take silver. Mutola was unbeaten throughout 2003 and grabbed the headlines again that year, at the Memorial van Damme race in Belgium. By winning here, it meant that she became sole winner of the IAAF one million dollar jackpot, awarded to athletes who remained undefeated during the IAAF Golden League series of competitions. She put part of her winnings towards the foundation that she had established in her name in Mozambique.

Aiming to become the first woman to successfully defend the Olympic 800 m title in 2004, her fifth Olympics, Mutola ended up finishing fourth, and out of the medals. Despite carrying a hamstring injury, Mutola was in the gold medal position until the final few metres, when three athletes passed her, including the eventual champion, her former training partner Kelly Holmes. In 2005 her injuries were still lingering and she suffered several losses to opponents she would normally easily beat. She parted amicably with her coach Margo Jennings, before returning to good form in 2006, when she won the World Indoor title for a record seventh time.

At the 2007 IAAF World Championships, Mutola was in contention for a medal entering into the home straight, but pulled out of the race in the dying metres.

In 2008, the 800 metres African record held by Mutola was beaten by the young Pamela Jelimo of Kenya ^[1]. Mutola has decided that the 2008 Olympic Games would be her last major championships, and she finished fifth in the 800 metres Olympic final.

Other work

She was appointed an honorary United Nations youth ambassador in 2003 at a ceremony in Maputo, in recognition of her outstanding athletic achievements. Other youth ambassadors are musician Baaba Maal and basketball star Dikembe Mutombo. She cited the importance of raising awareness of HIV/AIDS issues amongst young people in Africa and also highlighted the benefits that sport can bring to young people. Indeed, her Lurdes Mutola Foundation aims to bring more young Mozambicans to sport and to assist in helping them achieve their sporting and educational potential. Other initiatives that Mutola and her Foundation have been involved in include a Ministry of Health / UNICEF immunisation campaign against measles and polio and housing development initiatives in Maputo. Even before the establishment of the Foundation, she had played an active role in supporting sport in Maputo. She gave financial support that allowed an artificial track to be constructed on the sports ground at which she had originally trained as a fifteen-year old. She also authorised the sale of t-shirts that featured her image, profits from which went towards helping the Grupo Desportivo de Maputo out of financial difficulty.

At the 2006 Winter Olympics she was one of the eight Olympic flag bearers at the Opening Ceremony.

Best times

• 200 m 23.86
• 400 m 51.37
• 800 m 1:55.19
• 1000 m 2:29.34
• 1500 m 4:01.50
• 3000 m 9:27.37
• 5000 m 18:15.10

800 m honours

• Olympic Games: 1988 first round; 1992 5th and 9th 1500 m; 1996 3rd; 2000 1st; 2004 4th
• World Championships: 1991 4th; 1993 1st; 1995 disqualified semi final; 1997 3rd; 1999 2nd; 2001 1st; 2003 1st, 2005 Honorable Mention
• World Indoor Championships: 1993 1st; 1995 1st; 1997 1st; 1999 2nd; 2001 1st; 2003 1st; 2004 1st; 2006 1st
• World Cup: 1992 1st and 3rd 4x400 m Relay; 1994 1st; 1998 1st; 2002 1st and 4th 4x400 m Relay
• All-Africa Games: 1991 1st; 1995 1st
• African Championships: 1988 2nd; 1990 1st and 1st 1500 m; 1993 1st; 1998 1st; 2002 1st; 2008 2nd
• Commonwealth Games: 1998 1st; 2002 1st; 2006 3rd

References

This article needs additional citations for verification. Please help improve this article by adding reliable references. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. (July 2009)

1. ^ IAAF, June 1, 2008: Berlin witnesses Jelimo, 800m revelation

External links

• Official Website of Maria de Lurdes Mutola
• IAAF profile for Maria Mutola
• Home Page of Lurdes Mutola Foundation

v • d • e Olympic Champions in Women's 800 m 1928: Lina Radke • 1960: Lyudmila Shevtsova • 1964: Ann Packer • 1968: Madeline Manning • 1972: Hildegard Falck • 1976: Tatyana Kazankina • 1980: Nadezhda Olizarenko • 1984: Doina Melinte • 1988: Sigrun Wodars • 1992: Ellen van Langen • 1996: Svetlana Masterkova • 2000: Maria de Lurdes Mutola • 2004: Kelly Holmes • 2008: Pamela Jelimo

v • d • e World Champions in Women's 800 m 1983 Jarmila Kratochvílová | 1987 Sigrun Wodars | 1991 Liliya Nurutdinova | 1993 Maria Mutola | 1995 Ana Fidelia Quirot | 1997 Ana Fidelia Quirot | 1999 Ludmila Formanová | 2001 Maria Mutola | 2003 Maria Mutola | 2005 Zulia Calatayud | 2007 Janeth Jepkosgei | 2009 Caster Semenya

v • d • e Commonwealth Champions in Women's 800 m 1934 – 1966: 880 yards  •  1970 – 2006: 800 metres  1934: Gladys Lunn (ENG) •  1938 – 1958: Not Held  •  1962: Dixie Willis (AUS) •  1966: Abby Hoffman (CAN) •  1970: Rosemary Stirling (SCO) •  1974: Charlene Rendina (AUS) •  1978: Judy Peckham (AUS) •  1982: Kirsty McDermott (WAL) •  1986: Kirsty Wade (WAL) •  1990: Diane Edwards (ENG) •  1994: Inez Turner (JAM) •  1998: Maria Mutola (MOZ) •  2002: Maria Mutola (MOZ) •  2006: Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei (KEN)

v • d • e IAAF World/Continental Cup Champions in Women's 800 m  1977: Totka Petrova (URS)  •  1979: Nikolina Shtereva (BUL)  •  1981: Lyudmila Veselkova (URS)  •  1985: Christine Wachtel (GDR)  •  1989: Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)  •  1992 – 2002: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  2006: Zulia Calatayud (CUB)

v • d • e World Best Year Performance in Women's 800 m  1976: Tatyana Kazankina (URS)  •  1977: Ileana Silai (ROM)  •  1978: Tatyana Providokhina (URS)  •  1979: Totka Petrova (BUL)  •  1980: Nadezhda Olizarenko (URS)  •  1981: Lyudmila Veselkova (URS)  •  1982: Doina Melinte (ROM)  •  1983: Jarmila Kratochvílová (TCH)  •  1984: Irina Podyalovskaya (URS)  •  1985: Ella Kovacs (ROM)  •  1986: Doina Melinte (ROM)  •  1987: Sigrun Wodars (GDR)  •  1988: Inna Yevseyeva and Nadezhda Olizarenko (URS)  •  1989: Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)  •  1990: Sigrun Wodars (GDR)  •  1991: Svetlana Masterkova (RUS)  •  1992: Ellen van Langen (NED)  •  1993 – 1995: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  1996: Svetlana Masterkova (RUS)  •  1997: Ana Fidelia Quirot (CUB)  •  1998: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  1999: Svetlana Masterkova (RUS)  •  2000–2001: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  2002: Jolanda Čeplak (SLO)  •  2003: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  2004–2005: Tatyana Andrianova (RUS)  •  2006–2007: Janeth Jepkosgei Busienei (KEN)  •  2008: Pamela Jelimo (KEN)

v • d • e All-Africa Games Champions in Women's 800 m  1973: Christine Anyakun (UGA)  •  1978: Tekla Chemabwai (KEN)  •  1987: Selina Chirchir (KEN)  •  1991: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  1995: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  1999: Maria Mutola (MOZ)  •  2003: Grace Ebor (NGR)  •  2007: Leonor Piuza (MOZ)

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