Zulia Calatayud
Zulia Calatayud ( Zulia Inés Calatayud Torres ; born November 9, 1979 in Havana ) is a former Cuban middle -distance runner who specialized in the 800-meter distance .
In 1995 she started running seriously , initially primarily as a sprinter . In 1999 she surprisingly won silver at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg , but was eliminated at the World Championships in Seville in the preliminary stages. In the 4 x 400 meter relay , she came seventh with the Cuban team. At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney she was sixth in the 800 meters and eighth in the 4-by-400-meter relay, at the 2001 World Championships in Edmonton she reached the semi-finals, and at the 2002 World Cup in Madrid she was fourth.
After an injury break of one and a half years, she was Ibero-American champion and eighth at the Olympic Games in Athens in 2004 . Her two most successful years followed: in 2005 she won the World Championships in Helsinki and the World Athletics Finals in Monaco, in 2006 the Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, the World Finals in Stuttgart and the World Cup in Athens .
At the beginning of the 2007 season she was again affected by an injury. Nevertheless, she won bronze over 800 meters and gold in the Cuban 4 x 400 meter relay at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro . At the 2007 World Championships in Osaka and at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing , she was eliminated in the semifinals over 800 meters; in the season she came in seventh or sixth place.
In the last year of her competitive sports career, she won the Central America and Caribbean Championships in 2009. At the World Championships in Berlin , she reached the semi-finals and finished eighth with the 4 x 400 meter relay.
Zulia Calatayud is 1.69 m tall and weighs 59 kg. She is the youngest of nine siblings and was trained by Faustino Hernández.
Personal best
- 400 m : 50.87 s, June 30, 2001, Alcalá de Henares
- 800 m: 1: 56.09 min, July 19, 2002, Monaco
- 1000 m : 2: 34.31 min, August 30, 2002, Brussels (Cuban record)
Web links
- Zulia Calatayud in the database of World Athletics (English)
- Portrait ( memento from November 26, 2013 in the web archive archive.today ) at IAAF - Focus on Athletes, August 23, 2007
| personal data | |
|---|---|
| SURNAME | Calatayud, Zulia |
| BRIEF DESCRIPTION | Cuban middle distance runner |
| DATE OF BIRTH | November 9, 1979 |
| PLACE OF BIRTH | Havana |