Did you know…
Nadia Comaneci was a Romanian-born gymnast who won many Olympic medals. For many sports journalists, Nadia is the greatest athlete of all time. In the 1970s and early 1980s, she was a member of the Romanian Olympic gymnastics team. When she was 13 years old, she Nadia won four gold medals at the 1975 European Championships in Skien, Norway. She defeated Ludmilla Turishcheva (USSR), who won two Olympic and four world titles (1972-1974). Nadia Comaneci was discovered by Bela Karolyi. He said: “I was visiting the kindergarten that day and saw two six-year-old girls playing in the yard during recreation period. They were running and jumping, pretending they were gymnasts. Then the bell rang and they ran to school with all the other girls and I lost them. I knew I would never leave that school until I found those two girls. I went into every class in that kindergarten looking for them. I passed twice without seeing them. The third time I asked each class: “Who likes gymnastics? In each class, some of the girls raised their hands. But in one class, two of them stood up and yelled, “We do! We do!” and had found them. One was Nadia Comaneci. The other is now a very promising dancer.”
Said Aouita is a legendary athlete from the Kingdom of Morocco (Africa). He was one of the most famous runners in the world. This Arab athlete won a gold medal in the 5000m at the Los Angeles Summer Olympics and set several world records in the 1980s (1500m, 2000m, 3000m and 5000m). At the 1988 Olympics, he alone won a bronze medal in the 800 meters. Said was the favorite to win three Olympic gold medals. In an interview with Michael Janofsky, published on February 5, 1989 by the New York Times, he explained: “From a moral point of view, it was a catastrophe that I lost in Seoul.”
The Pakistan field hockey team has won two Olympic titles: 1960 and 1968. They have also won the World Field Hockey Championship four times (1971, 1978, 1982, 1994). This country has won the Asian Tournament a record seven times: Tokyo’58, Jakarta’62, Bangkok’70, Tehran’74, Bangkok’78, New Delhi’82 and Beijing’90. In 1979, Pakistan won the Junior World Cup.
Kirsty Coventry, the 2004 Olympic champion, is the greatest African athlete in history. She was born on September 16, 1983 in Harare, the capital of Zimbabwe (formerly Rhodesia). Like many Latin American and African athletes, she currently lives and trains in the United States. Unfortunately, Zimbabwe is one of the poorest countries in Africa. She once said: “The experience in the USA was very useful for me, since I had a scholarship to Auburn University and the opportunity to have contact with the best American swimmers. So I was able to progress steadily, and from Athens 2004 to to be part of the world elite. I advise the young swimmers of my continent to do the same to fulfill their dreams”.
In 2002, she finished first in the 200-meter individual medley (2:14.53) at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester, United Kingdom. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Greece, Kirsty won 3 medals, including 1 gold. Her country hadn’t won an Olympic medal since 1980. She came as a surprise to the Olympic movement. This athlete also won six medals at the FINA World Championships (2005-2007). In July 2007, Kirsty became the “star” of the IX African Games. Zimbabwe’s Kirsty Coventry has won 10 medals in the women’s swimming. She said: “I was training very hard in Austin (Texas) with my coach Kim Brackin, but I wanted to represent my country in these Games. In 2003, I couldn’t come and had failed other continental competitions due to my university studies in Auburn. Therefore, I am very happy to return to the environment of the African swimming family, eight years after my first participation in the African Games in Johannesburg in 1999.”
Jefferson Leonardo Pérez Quezada is a gold medalist who led an Ecuadorian sweep in the 20 kilometer walk at the Atlanta Olympic Games in 1996. This athlete won a gold medal at the 1997 Bolivarian Games in Arequipa, Peru. He is also a three-time Pan American medalist who captured gold in the 20 km walk at the 1995, 2003 and 2007 Pan American Games. Additionally, he won a gold medal at the IAAF World Championships in Osaka, Japan in 2007. He won two medals at the 1990 and 1992 World Youth Championships. The Latin American athletics star was born on July 1, 1974 in Cuenca, Ecuador (South America).
Zimbabwean women’s field hockey won a gold medal at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow (Soviet Union). The Olympic champions were: Christine Prinsloo, Sonia Robertson, Anthea Stewart, Helen Volk, Linda Watson, Sarah English, Maureen George, Ann Grant, Susan Hugget, Patricia McKillop, Brenda Phillips, Elizabeth Chase, Sandra Chick, Patricia Davies, and Gillian Cowley.
The Brazilian team won the gold medal in men’s volleyball at the 2004 Olympic Games. The Brazilian medalists were: Giovane “Giggio” Gavio, Rodrigo “Rodrigao” Santana, Gilberto “Giba” Godoy Filho, Anderson Rodrigues, Mauricio Lima, Sergio” Escandinha” Dutra Santos, Andre Heller, Nalbert Tavares Bitencourt, Andre Luiz da Silva Nascimento, Dante Guimaraes Amaral, Gustavo Endres and Ricardo “Ricardinho” Rezende.
High performance:
1997: World Cup-1st place; Junior World Championship – 2nd place
1999: Pan American Games-2nd place; Junior World Championship-3rd place; South American Tournament-1st place
2000: Olympic Games-6th place
2001: World League-1st place; South American Tournament-1st place; Junior World Championship-1st place; Junior World Championship – 1st place
2002: World Championship-1st place; World League-2nd place
2003: World League-1st place; World Cup-1st place; Pan American Games-3rd place; South American Championship-1st place; Junior World Championship-2nd place; Junior World Championship – 1st place
2004: World League-1st place; Olympics-1st place
2005: World League-1st place; South American Tournament-1st place; Junior World Championship-2nd place; Junior World Championship – 2nd place
2006: World League-1st place; World Championship-1st place
2007: World League-1st place (won its seventh title); Pan American Games-1st place; South American Championship-1st place; American Cup-2nd place; World Cup-1st place; Junior World Championship-1st place.
