Maria Mutola
Encyclopedia
Maria de Lurdes Mutola (born October 27, 1972) is a female athlete from Mozambique
who has specialized in the 800 m
. She was born in Maputo
, earning her the suiting nickname of "The Maputo Express. She is the fourth track & field
athlete to compete at six Olympic Games.
. 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.
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.
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
, Namibia
n 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.
Her appearance at the 2008 Olympics made her only the fourth Track & Field
athlete to compete at six Olympics, after Lia Manoliu
(discus), Tessa Sanderson
(javelin/heptathlon), and seven-time Olympian Merlene Ottey
(sprints). Angola
n middle/long-distance runner João N'Tyamba
also made his sixth Olympic appearance in 2008.
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. Mutola had decided that the 2008 Olympic Games would be her last major championships, and she finished fifth in the 800 metres Olympic final. She publicly called an end to her 21-year long athletics career at the Weltklasse Zürich
meeting immediately after the Olympics. She finished fourth with a run of 1:58.71 in the 800 m, again behind Jelimo, who completed a symbolic feat by beating Mutola's meet record which had stood since 1994.
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.
Mozambique
Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique , is a country in southeastern Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west and Swaziland and South Africa to the southwest...
who has specialized in the 800 m
Middle distance track event
Middle distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle distance event. The 880 yard run, or half mile, was the forebear to the...
. She was born in Maputo
Maputo
Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
, earning her the suiting nickname of "The Maputo Express. She is the fourth track & field
Athletics at the Summer Olympics
Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The athletics program traces its earliest roots to events used in the ancient Greek Olympics. The modern program now comprises track and field events, road running...
athlete to compete at six Olympic Games.
Teenage years
Mutola was born in the Chamanculo district of MaputoMaputo
Maputo, also known as Lourenço Marques, is the capital and largest city of Mozambique. It is known as the City of Acacias in reference to acacia trees commonly found along its avenues and the Pearl of the Indian Ocean. It was famous for the inscription "This is Portugal" on the walkway of its...
. Her father was employed by the railways and her mother was a market vendor. As a young girl she excelled in football
Football (soccer)
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
. 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
José Craveirinha
José Craveirinha , was born in Maputo, Mozambique and is today considered the greatest poet of that country....
, 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
S.L. Benfica (athletics)
S.L. Benfica is a professional Athletics team from Lisbon, Portugal. It competes in both the men's and women's national leagues.-Domestic competitions:* Portuguese Outdoor Men's Championship:...
, but at the last minute the Mozambique government denied her permission. That year, after only a few months' training, she won a silver medal
Silver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
in the 800 m at the African Championships, before competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics
1988 Summer Olympics
The 1988 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad, were an all international multi-sport events celebrated from September 17 to October 2, 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. They were the second summer Olympic Games to be held in Asia and the first since the 1964 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.
Studying and training in the USA
Over the next few years Mutola failed to improve on her best time, but still won gold at the African ChampionshipsAfrican Championships in Athletics
The African Championships in Athletics is a continental athletics event organized by the Confederation of African Athletics. It is generally organised biennually, every other event is held same year as the Summer Olympics....
in Cairo
Cairo
Cairo , is the capital of Egypt and the largest city in the Arab world and Africa, and the 16th largest metropolitan area in the world. Nicknamed "The City of a Thousand Minarets" for its preponderance of Islamic architecture, Cairo has long been a centre of the region's political and cultural life...
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
Oregon
Oregon is a state in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States. It is located on the Pacific coast, with Washington to the north, California to the south, Nevada on the southeast and Idaho to the east. The Columbia and Snake rivers delineate much of Oregon's northern and eastern...
, USA to study and train. Springfield High School
Springfield High School (Oregon)
Springfield High School was the first public high school in Springfield, Oregon, United States. It is one of four high schools in the Springfield School District.-Academics:In 2008, 78% of the school's seniors received their high school diploma...
was the host school, due to the fact that there was a Portuguese
Portuguese language
Portuguese is a Romance language that arose in the medieval Kingdom of Galicia, nowadays Galicia and Northern Portugal. The southern part of the Kingdom of Galicia became independent as the County of Portugal in 1095...
-speaking staff member (Mutola spoke no English). She surprised many by finishing 4th in the final of the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Athletics
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations . Originally, it was organised every four years, but this changed in 1991, and it has since been organised biennially.-History:...
in Tokyo
Tokyo
, ; officially , is one of the 47 prefectures of Japan. Tokyo is the capital of Japan, the center of the Greater Tokyo Area, and the largest metropolitan area of Japan. It is the seat of the Japanese government and the Imperial Palace, and the home of the Japanese Imperial Family...
, 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
1992 Summer Olympics
The 1992 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event celebrated in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain, in 1992. The International Olympic Committee voted in 1986 to separate the Summer and Winter Games, which had been held in the same...
in Barcelona
Barcelona
Barcelona is the second largest city in Spain after Madrid, and the capital of Catalonia, with a population of 1,621,537 within its administrative limits on a land area of...
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
Ellen van Langen
Ellen Gezina Maria van Langen is a former Dutch middle distance runner. Van Langen has a degree in economics at the University of Amsterdam. Before she started running, she played football....
. At the same Games, Mutola ran her only 1500 m
1500 metres
The 1,500-metre run is the premier middle distance track event.Aerobic endurance is the biggest factor contributing to success in the 1500 metres but the athlete also requires significant sprint speed.In modern times, the 1,500-metre run has been run at a pace faster than the average person could...
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 AthleticsIAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics
The International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships were inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed in 1987 as they are known today.-History:...
and the 1993 IAAF World Championships in Athletics
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations . Originally, it was organised every four years, but this changed in 1991, and it has since been organised biennially.-History:...
. At the latter event, held in Stuttgart
Stuttgart
Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million ....
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
Memorial Van Damme
Memorial van Damme is an annual athletics event at the King Baudouin Stadium in Brussels, Belgium that takes place in late August or early September...
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
Margo Jennings
Margo Jennings is a retired teacher and athletics coach. Jennings enjoyed a 40 year teaching career while coaching track athletes of all levels for 30 years...
. Jennings was a track coach at Springfield High School and continued to coach Mutola, even when she had relocated from Oregon to Johannesburg
Johannesburg
Johannesburg also known as Jozi, Jo'burg or Egoli, is the largest city in South Africa, by population. Johannesburg is the provincial capital of Gauteng, the wealthiest province in South Africa, having the largest economy of any metropolitan region in Sub-Saharan Africa...
to escape the high pollen count. Jennings faxes Mutola's training schedules to her in South Africa
South Africa
The Republic of South Africa is a country in southern Africa. Located at the southern tip of Africa, it is divided into nine provinces, with of coastline on the Atlantic and Indian oceans...
, and has also coached other world class 800 m runners like Kelly Holmes
Kelly Holmes
Dame Kelly Holmes, DBE, MBE is a retired British middle distance athlete. She specialised in the 800 metres and 1500 metres events and won a gold medal for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens...
, Namibia
Namibia
Namibia, officially the Republic of Namibia , is a country in southern Africa whose western border is the Atlantic Ocean. It shares land borders with Angola and Zambia to the north, Botswana to the east and South Africa to the south and east. It gained independence from South Africa on 21 March...
n athlete Agnes Samaria
Agnes Samaria
Agnes Samaria is a Namibian middle distance runner who specializes in the 800 metres. She was born in Otjiwarongo.Samaria has been a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2005.-Achievements:-Personal bests:*400 metres - 53.83 s...
and Tina Paulino
Tina Paulino
Tina Paulino is an 800 metres runner from Mozambique.- Early life :Born in Inhambane, Tina Paulino is a distant cousin of Maria de Lurdes Mutola. She started competing in 1992 at the age of 18, having already played basketball for the national team...
, who is actually a distant relative of Mutola's.
At the 1996 Summer Olympics
1996 Summer Olympics
The 1996 Summer Olympics of Atlanta, officially known as the Games of the XXVI Olympiad and unofficially known as the Centennial Olympics, was an international multi-sport event which was celebrated in 1996 in Atlanta, Georgia, United States....
in Atlanta
Atlanta, Georgia
Atlanta is the capital and most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia. According to the 2010 census, Atlanta's population is 420,003. Atlanta is the cultural and economic center of the Atlanta metropolitan area, which is home to 5,268,860 people and is the ninth largest metropolitan area in...
, Mutola was a hot favourite for the gold
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
, 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
Svetlana Masterkova
Svetlana Alexandrovna Masterkova is a Russian former middle distance runner and current world record holder for the mile. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, she won the gold medal in both the 800 and 1,500 metres....
and Ana Quirot. Later in 1996 Mutola lost her world 1000 m record to Masterkova.
Her appearance at the 2008 Olympics made her only the fourth Track & Field
Athletics at the Summer Olympics
Athletics has been contested at every Summer Olympics since the birth of the modern Olympic movement at the 1896 Summer Olympics. The athletics program traces its earliest roots to events used in the ancient Greek Olympics. The modern program now comprises track and field events, road running...
athlete to compete at six Olympics, after Lia Manoliu
Lia Manoliu
Lia Manoliu was a Romanian discus thrower who won three Olympic medals, including one gold. She was the first Track & Field athlete to compete at six Olympics....
(discus), Tessa Sanderson
Tessa Sanderson
Theresa Ione Sanderson CBE is a former British javelin thrower and heptathlete who competed in the javelin competition in every one of the six Olympics from 1976–1996 winning the Gold medal in 1984...
(javelin/heptathlon), and seven-time Olympian Merlene Ottey
Merlene Ottey
Merlene Joyce Ottey , is a Jamaican-born Slovenian track athlete. Ottey began her career representing Jamaica, but since 2002, has represented Slovenia, where she now resides...
(sprints). Angola
Angola
Angola, officially the Republic of Angola , is a country in south-central Africa bordered by Namibia on the south, the Democratic Republic of the Congo on the north, and Zambia on the east; its west coast is on the Atlantic Ocean with Luanda as its capital city...
n middle/long-distance runner João N'Tyamba
João N'Tyamba
João Baptista N'Tyamba is an Angolan runner. He was born in Lubango.He started as a middle distance runner, and competed in 800 meters at 1988 Summer Olympics, then competed in 1500 metres at the 1991 World Championships, the 1992 Summer Olympics and the 1996 Summer Olympics and in 3000 metres at...
also made his sixth Olympic appearance in 2008.
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
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
in the 1997 IAAF World Championships in Athletics
IAAF World Championships in Athletics
The World Championships in Athletics is an event organized by the International Association of Athletics Federations . Originally, it was organised every four years, but this changed in 1991, and it has since been organised biennially.-History:...
and silver in 1999. She also won the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics
IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics
The International Association of Athletics Federations World Indoor Championships were inaugurated as the World Indoor Games in 1985 in Paris, France and were subsequently renamed in 1987 as they are known today.-History:...
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
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
twice, after Mozambique was admitted to the Commonwealth
Commonwealth of Nations
The Commonwealth of Nations, normally referred to as the Commonwealth and formerly known as the British Commonwealth, is an intergovernmental organisation of fifty-four independent member states...
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
Stephanie Graf
Stephanie Graf is a former Austrian middle distance runner.She finished second to Maria de Lurdes Mutola in the women's 800 meters at both the 2000 Olympics in Sydney and the 2001 World Athletics Championships in Edmonton, Alberta.Her time from the 2000 Olympics, 1:56.64 minutes, is the current...
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
Belgium
Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...
. 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
IAAF Golden League
The IAAF Golden League was an annual series of track and field meetings organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations...
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
African records in athletics
African records in athletics are the best marks set in a track and field and road running events by an athlete who competes for a member nation of the Confederation of African Athletics . The organisation is responsible for ratification and it analyses each record before approving it...
held by Mutola, was beaten by the young Pamela Jelimo
Pamela Jelimo
Pamela Jelimo is a Kenyan middle-distance runner, specialising in the 800 metres. She won the gold medal at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. She is the first Kenyan woman to win an Olympic gold medal and also the first Kenyan to win the Golden League Jackpot...
of Kenya. Mutola had decided that the 2008 Olympic Games would be her last major championships, and she finished fifth in the 800 metres Olympic final. She publicly called an end to her 21-year long athletics career at the Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich
Weltklasse Zürich is an annual track and field meeting at the Letzigrund in Zurich, Switzerland. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the IAAF Diamond League. One of the first large-scale international athletics events , it is sometimes referred to as the one day...
meeting immediately after the Olympics. She finished fourth with a run of 1:58.71 in the 800 m, again behind Jelimo, who completed a symbolic feat by beating Mutola's meet record which had stood since 1994.
Other work
She was appointed an honorary United NationsUnited Nations
The United Nations is an international organization whose stated aims are facilitating cooperation in international law, international security, economic development, social progress, human rights, and achievement of world peace...
youth ambassador in 2003 at a ceremony in Maputo, in recognition of her outstanding athletic achievements. Other youth ambassadors are musician Baaba Maal
Baaba Maal
Baaba Maal is a Senegalese singer and guitarist born in Podor, on the Senegal River. In addition to acoustic guitar, he also plays percussion. He has released several albums, both for independent and major labels. In July 2003, he was made a UNDP Youth Emissary.-Biography:Born 12 November 1953...
and basketball star Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo
Dikembe Mutombo Mpolondo Mukamba Jean-Jacques Wamutombo , commonly referred to as Dikembe Mutombo, is a retired Congolese American professional basketball player who last played for the Houston Rockets of the NBA...
. 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
Measles
Measles, also known as rubeola or morbilli, is an infection of the respiratory system caused by a virus, specifically a paramyxovirus of the genus Morbillivirus. Morbilliviruses, like other paramyxoviruses, are enveloped, single-stranded, negative-sense RNA viruses...
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; 2008 5th
- World Championships: 19911991 World Championships in Athletics - Women's 800 metresThese are the official results of the Women's 800 metres event at the 1991 IAAF World Championships in Tokyo, Japan. There were a total of 36 participating athletes, with five qualifying heats and the final held on Monday August 26, 1991.-Medalists:...
4th; 1993 1st; 1995 disqualified semi final; 1997 3rd; 1999 2nd; 2001 1st; 2003 1st, 2005 Honorable Mention, 2007 Did not Finish Final - World Indoor Championships: 1993 1st; 1995 1st; 1997 1st; 1999 2nd; 2001 1st; 2003 1st; 2004 1st; 2006 1st; 2007 3rd
- 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; 1999 1st
- African Championships: 1988 2nd; 1990 1st and 1st 1500 m; 1993 1st; 1998 1st; 2002 1st; 2006 2nd; 2008 2nd
- Commonwealth Games: 1998 1st; 2002 1st; 2006 3rd