Certainly, the UK has had some brilliant 800m runners like Keely Hodgkison and Kelly Holmes plus Lillian Board in the European of 1969 but, if one had to point out who was the World’s greatest competitor over the distance through the years, one could not go far wrong by saying that was Maria Mutola.
She was the only athlete to ever have won Olympic, World outdoors & Indoors, Commonwealth Games and Continental Championships titles. It was possible that when she suffered a hamstring injury and, was not able to finish fast enough in the Olympics of 2004 final in Athens, although going ahead briefly as they entered the finishing straight and before the winner Kelly Homes went clear to win. Then, of course Maria lost pace by the finishing line, to come 4th in 1:56.51, behind the winner Kelly Holmes who ran 1:56.38’ If Maria Mutola had won, she would have gone down in history, at the time, as the only woman to gain two Olympic 800 gold medals at the distance. She also won 4 IAAF World Cup races and 3 World Championships titles 1993; 2001 & 2003! However, her international career started, in 1988 and did not end till 2008, after the Olympic 800 Final when she came 5th in 1:57.68. That one appeared to be a rather bumpy race for her in that Final, in Beijing, China.
Some memories
MM= “in 1992 I went to Toronto for the World indoor Championships and won the 800 final in 1:57.18 with Svetlana Masterkova, who later became the double
Olympic Champion in Atlanta, second in 1:59.18. Joetta Clark and Elle Kovacs were next in. That was a big memory for me because it was the first World Championship win for Mozambique and I started to believe in myself and that I would win even more races. To Know you are one of the top runners in the world is a special feeling”
In 1994 Maria Mutola ran 1:55.9 in the Westklasse in Zurich, which was the fastest in the World that year. She ran a 51.7 for 400 that year (A PB) and ran her fastest 1500 in Eugene in 1995 of 4:0.16. (In a mixed race. She also had run a 4.01.50, back on the 12th of July, ,2002 in Rome).
In 1996 Maria gained a bronze medal at Atlanta in the Olympic 800 in 1:58.7, behind Svetlana Masterkova (Russia) 1:57.3 and her friend Anna Quirot of Cuba who was 2nd1:58.1.
In Sydney at the Olympics 2000 Maria Mutola, became the first person from Mozambique to win an Olympic title. In the 800m Final Helena Fuchsova led through the bell in 55:04. Kelly Holmes, who had recently come back from injury then took the lead at the 600metre mark and made her brave attempt to come home first; Maria went past her on the outside and in the home straight then, Steffi Graff took Kelly with just 30m remaining.
Final. 1 Maria Mutola (MOZ) 1:56.15. 2 Stephanie Graff (AUT) 1:56.64; 3 Kelly Holmes (GBR) (THE NEXT Olympic Champiion1:56.80).
About her training Maria remarked to me “I read about Sebastian Coe as he was an excellent runner for his time. He really impressed me a lot and even my coach (Margot Jennings) talks a lot about him and all his training. She tried to give me similar type of work. To have the endurance for
1500 and speed r for 800. To use the 1500 to train for the 800 like Sebastian Coe did.’
“I train a lot over distance but not so much cross-country as I used to in High School a long time ago. Now I do long runs, fartlek for 3 miles and speed work in the Summer as we get close to racing on the track”
In those early days from 5 to 15 her first love was playing football and, she was inspired by her brother Carlos growing up and he made the National basketball team.
He inspired her to do sport.
The Olympic Solidarity Committee gave Maria A grant to do sport abroad “My goal was to learn English because I did not speak English at the time and, I chose to go to the United States. I wanted to find out what America is about. I went to Springfield High School, Eugene, Oregon but naturally
It was not easy to begin with such a culture change and I was homesick to begin with. She met Margot Jennings, who had been a college long distance runner.” Immediately, with her guidance she blossomed out as a future prospect.
Her passion now is to help evolve sport in Mozambique through her Maria Mutola Foundation.