Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired Mozambican female track and field athlete 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 consistent performance in major championships and her exceptional longevity, she competed 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.
Career Early years Mutola was born in 1972 in the poor shanty town of Chamanculo on the outskirts of Maputo, then known as Lourenço Marques, the capital of Portuguese Mozambique. 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. At only 14 years of age, she was encouraged to take up athletics by one of Mozambique's foremost literary figures, the poet José Craveirinha, who was a keen sports fan. His son Stelio, himself a former national long jump record holder who had competed in the 1980 Summer Olympics, was Mutola's first coach.
After a visit to Portugal, plans were made for her to join the Lisbon-based Benfica athletics club, but at the last minute the Mozambican government denied her permission. The next year, after several months' training, she won a silver medal in the 800 metres in the 1988 African Championships in Annaba, Algeria before competing in the 1988 Summer Olympics less than a month later. She ran a personal best time of 2:04.36, but only finished seventh in her first round heat, failing to progress to the semi-finals. Mutola was still only fifteen years old.
Studying and training in the United States 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 IOC solidarity programme, she was awarded a scholarship to go to the United States to study and train. Springfield High School in Oregon was her host school, due to the fact that there was a Portuguese-speaking staff member (since Mutola spoke no English).
She quickly surprised many by finishing fourth in the final of the 1991 World Championships 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, elbowed twice by Ella Kovacs as she tried to pass in the final few metres. On the finish line, Kovacs fell across the line ahead of Mutola, reaching out and tripping race winner Lilia Nurutdinova as well. A protest was lodged but it was unsuccessful. 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 winner Ellen van Langen. At the same Olympics, Mutola ran one of the few 1500 m races at an international championship, placing ninth in the final. That same year she also won the 800 m event at the 1992 IAAF World Cup in Havana, and was the only woman to beat Ellen van Langen throughout the whole year.
Status in 800 m race history
Mutola is often ranked as one of the greatest female 800 m runners of all time, and to some even the best. She has not gained a world record in the event, but her consistency, her performances at major championships and her ability to compete at the highest levels of the sport for two decades are unmatched – the 2008 Olympics were her sixth consecutive Olympics. She does however have a 0–4 record against her rival Ana Quirot in World and Olympic competition, and Quirot ran sub-1:55 twice vs. Mutola's career best of 1:55.16. In terms of global championship gold medals however, Mutola bests Quirot in Olympic titles (1–0), outdoor World titles (3–2) and indoor World titles (7–0). Mutola and Quirot are good friends to this day and often write one another, and Mutola often wrote Quirot letters of encouragement to return to Track and Field following her near fatal heavy burn explosion.
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 2003 IAAF Golden League one million dollar jackpot, awarded to athletes who remained undefeated in all six competitions in the season. 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. 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. Mutola finished fourth in the 800 m at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki; third-place winner Tatyana Andrianova was retroactively suspended for a doping violation in 2015. A later test invalidated Andrianova's results from 9 August 2005 through 8 August 2007. On April 14, 2016, the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) overturned Andrianova's two-year doping suspension because her sample had been re-tested beyond the eight-year statute of limitations. "As the eight-year statute of limitations had expired prior to January 1, 2015, the 10-year statute of limitations provided under the new 2015 anti-doping rules cannot apply", CAS said in a statement.
Mutola parted amicably with her coach Margo Jennings, before returning to good form in 2006, when she won the World Indoor Championships 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.IAAF, June 1, 2008: Berlin witnesses Jelimo, 800m revelation 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.
Her appearance at the 2008 Olympics made her only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympics, after Lia Manoliu (discus), Tessa Sanderson (javelin/heptathlon), and seven-time Olympian Merlene Ottey (sprints).
Achievements
International competitions Representing 1988African ChampionshipsAnnaba, Algeria2nd800 m2:06.55Summer OlympicsSeoul, South Korea21st (h)800 m2:04.361990African ChampionshipsCairo, Egypt1st800 m2:13.541st1500 m4:25.271991World ChampionshipsTokyo, Japan4th800 m1:57.63All-Africa GamesCairo, Egypt1st800 m2:04.021992Summer OlympicsBarcelona, Spain5th800 m1:57.499th1500 m4:02.601993World Indoor ChampionshipsToronto, Canada1st800 m1:57.55African ChampionshipsDurban, South Africa1st800 m1:56.36 (CR)World ChampionshipsStuttgart, Germany1st800 m1:55.43IAAF Grand Prix FinalLondon, United Kingdom1st800 m1:57.351995World Indoor ChampionshipsBarcelona, Spain1st800 m1:57.62World ChampionshipsGothenburg, Sweden— (sf)800 mDQAll-Africa GamesHarare, Zimbabwe1st800 m1:56.99IAAF Grand Prix FinalFontvieille, Monaco1st800 m1:55.721996Summer OlympicsAtlanta, United States3rd800 m1:58.711997World Indoor ChampionshipsParis, France1st800 m1:58.96World ChampionshipsAthens, Greece3rd800 m1:57.59IAAF Grand Prix FinalFukuoka City, Japan2nd800 m1:56.931998African ChampionshipsDakar, Senegal1st800 m1:57.95Commonwealth GamesKuala Lumpur, Malaysia1st800 m1:57.601999World Indoor ChampionshipsMaebashi, Japan2nd800 m1:57.17World ChampionshipsSeville, Spain2nd800 m1:56.72All-Africa GamesJohannesburg, South Africa1st800 m1:59.73IAAF Grand Prix FinalMunich, Germany1st800 m1:59.102000Summer OlympicsSydney, Australia1st800 m1:56.152001World Indoor ChampionshipsLisbon, Portugal1st800 m1:59.74World ChampionshipsEdmonton, Canada1st800 m1:57.17IAAF Grand Prix FinalMelbourne, Australia1st800 m1:59.782002African ChampionshipsRadès, Tunisia1st800 m2:03.11Commonwealth GamesManchester, United Kingdom1st800 m1:57.352003World Indoor ChampionshipsBirmingham, United Kingdom1st800 m1:58.94World ChampionshipsParis, France1st800 m1:59.89IAAF World Athletics FinalFontvieille, Monaco1st800 m1:59.592004World Indoor ChampionshipsBudapest, Hungary1st800 m1:58.50Summer OlympicsAthens, Greece4th800 m1:56.512005World ChampionshipsHelsinki, Finland4th800 m1:59.712006World Indoor ChampionshipsMoscow, Russia1st800 m1:58.90Commonwealth GamesMelbourne, Australia3rd800 m1:58.77African ChampionshipsBambous, Mauritius2nd800 m2:01.082007World ChampionshipsOsaka, Tokyo— (f)800 mDNF2008World Indoor ChampionshipsValencia, Spain3rd800 m2:02.97African ChampionshipsAddis Ababa, Ethiopia2nd800 m2:00.47Summer OlympicsBeijing, China5th800 m1:57.68Representing Africa1992IAAF World CupHavana, Cuba1st800 m2:00.471994IAAF World CupLondon, United Kingdom1st800 m1:58.271998IAAF World CupJohannesburg, South Africa1st800 m1:59.882002IAAF World CupMadrid, Spain1st800 m1:58.60
Personal bests TypeEventMarkDateLocationOutdoor200 m23.8620 July 1994Langenthal, Switzerland400 m51.372 August 1994Monaco600 m1:22.8727 August 2002Liège, Belgium800 m1:55.1917 August 1994Zürich, Switzerland1000 m2:29.3425 August 1995Brussels, Belgium1500 m4:01.5012 July 2002Rome, ItalyOne mile 4:36.09 21 June 1991Eugene, United States2000 m6:03.84 1 January 19923000 m9:27.37 8 June 1991Springfield, United States5000 m18:15.10 18 July 1990Indoor600 m1:25.797 March 1999Maebashi, Japan800 m1:57.0621 February 1999Liévin, France1000 m2:30.9425 February 1999Stockholm, Sweden1500 m4:17.931 February 1992Portland, United States
800 m honours