Maria Mutola

Maria Mutola
Mutola in 2008 at the World Indoor Championships in Valencia
Personal information
Nickname(s)Maputo Express, Lurdinha
NationalityMozambican
Born (1972-10-27) 27 October 1972
Lourenço Marques, Mozambique
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight63 kg (139 lb)
Sport
SportTrack and field
Event(s)800 metres, 1500 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)400 m: 51.37 (1994)
800 m: 1:55.19 (1994)
1500 m: 4:01.50 (2002)
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Mozambique
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
Olympic Games 1 0 1
World Championships 3 1 1
World Indoor Championships 7 1 1
African Championships 5 3 0
Commonwealth Games 2 0 1
All-Africa Games 3 0 0
Total 21 5 4
Event 1st 2nd 3rd
800 m 20 5 4
1500 m 1 0 0
Olympic Games
2000 Sydney800 m
1996 Atlanta800 m
World Championships
1993 Stuttgart800 m
2001 Edmonton800 m
2003 Paris800 m
1999 Seville800 m
1997 Athens800 m
World Indoor Championships
1993 Toronto800 m
1995 Barcelona800 m
1997 Paris800 m
2001 Lisbon800 m
2003 Birmingham800 m
2004 Budapest800 m
2006 Moscow800 m
1999 Maebashi800 m
2008 Valencia800 m
Commonwealth Games
1998 Kuala Lumpur800 m
2002 Manchester800 m
2006 Melbourne800 m
All-Africa Games
1991 Cairo800 m
1995 Harare800 m
1999 Johannesburg800 m
African Championships
1990 Cairo800 m
1990 Cairo1500 m
1993 Durban800 m
1998 Dakar800 m
2002 Tunis800 m
1988 Annaba800 m
2006 Bambous800 m
2008 Addis Ababa800 m
Representing Africa
World Cup
1992 Havana800 m
1994 London800 m
1998 Johannesburg800 m
2002 Madrid800 m

Maria de Lurdes Mutola (/məˈrə mˈtlə/ mə-REE-ə moo-TOH-lə; born 27 October 1972) is a retired Mozambican female track and field who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. She is a three-time world champion in this event and a one-time Olympic champion.

Although Mutola never broke the world record in her favourite event, she is regarded by many track insiders and fans as one of the greatest 800 metres female runners of all time due to her consistently good results in major championships and her exceptional longevity which saw her compete at the highest level for two decades before retiring from athletics in 2008 at the age of 35. She is also the only athlete ever to have won Olympic, World, World indoor, Commonwealth Games, Continental Games and Continental Championships titles in the same event. She is also the main coach and mentor of Caster Semenya.