Maria MUTOLA

Maria Mutola - Mozambique - International athletics career in the 1990s.

Photo/Foto: George Herringshaw

Date: 06 August 1992

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    • DATE OF BIRTH
      Friday, 27 October 1972
    • PLACE OF BIRTH
      Maputo, Mozambique
  • INTERNATIONAL
  • Mozambique
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Maria MUTOLA - Mozambique - International athletics career in the 1990s.

 

Any mention of Mozambique in international athletics circles was virtually non-existent before the emergence of Maria Mutola in the early 1990s. As a youngster, Mutola was a top soccer player in her home town of Maputo, but her life quickly changed through a grant from the Olympic Solidarity Committee which enabled her to attend school in Eugene, Oregon. Mutola competed in her first Olympic Games in Seoul in 1988, at the tender age of 15, where, she was barely noticed when she was eliminated in her heat of the 800m. Only a week later, she ran second in the 800m at the African Championships in Annaba, Algeria. Although still only 17 years of age at the next African Championships in Cairo in October 1990, the quickly maturing Mutola easily won the 800m/1500m double.

 

Mutola really came of age at the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, where, in a close finish, and having been blocked by a runner drifting into her path, Maria was unlucky to finish fourth in a new World Junior record of 1min 57.63sec. Mutola was a much more formidable contender at her second Olympic Games in Barcelona in 1992. Prior to the Olympics she had set a personal best time of 1min 58.46sec when she won at the Bislett Games in Oslo on 4 July, and she further reduced this time at Nice on 15 July to 1min 58.25sec. In the Olympic final on 3 August, she finished fifth in another new personal best of 1min 57.49sec.

 

Three days later, in her last 1500m at a major international championships, Maria qualified for her second Olympic final by finishing third in her semi-final (see photo above) in a new national record of 4min 04.20sec. In the final, Mutola finished a creditable 9th in another new national record of 4min 02.60sec. (Ron Casey)

                                            

                                              1993 World Champion at 800 metres.

 

 In 1993, Maria Mutola dominated the 800m event, winning all five indoor finals and all 11 outdoor finals in which she competed. It was on 14 March that year, in Toronto, that Mutola began what would eventually prove to be a phenomenal record in the World Indoor Championships. In the final at Toronto, Mutola led from the start, passing through 400m in 58.85sec, and going on to win easily in 1min 57.55sec, the third fastest indoor time in history. In the outdoor season, she was even more devastating, setting new African records in four different continents. At Sao Paulo on 16 May, Mutola won the 800m in 1min 57.38sec, which bettered her African record set at the previous yearís Olympic Games by 0.11sec.

 

At the New York Games on 22 May, Maria broke the record again, winning in a time of 1min 56.56sec, and on 27 June in Durban, she further reduced the record when she won the African Championships in 1min 56.36sec. Travelling to Europe, Mutola set her fourth African record of the year when she won at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich in a sensational time of 1min 55.62sec. These performances had made her the favourite for the 800m at the World Championships held that year in Stuttgart. In the final on 17 August, Mutola hung back in the early stages, and was next to last after the first lap, however she rapidly improved her position down the back straight, and drew away to win easily (see photo above) in 1min 55.43sec, which was her fifth new African record set during 1993. This was the fastest time recorded in the world since 1989 and moved Maria to tenth on the all-time world list. Mutola finished off a remarkable year by easily winning the Grand Prix final in London in 1min 57.35sec. (Ron Casey)

 

 

During 1994, Maria Mutola continued her domination of the 800m which she had established the previous year. Mutola won all seven of the races she contested outdoors in 1994, which included setting a new personal best and African record of 1min 55.19sec at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on 17 August. Her major wins were in the Goodwill Games at St Petersburg on 28 July, and in the World Cup at London on 10 September. By 1995, Mutola had been unbeaten at 800m for over two years, and her mastery over her rivals had reached the stage where her major challenge came from competing against the clock. In the World Indoor Championships at Barcelona on 12 March 1995, Maria set off in pursuit of Christine Wachtel's (East Germany) world record of 1min 56.40sec set in 1988. Mutola sped through 200m in 26.67sec, and 400m in 56.18sec, but her pace proved to be too ambitious, and she faded to finish in 1min 57.62sec, which was still over two seconds faster than the second-place getter.

 

The major event in the 1995 outdoor season was the World Championships held in Gothenburg. A week before the World Championships, Mutola broke Wachtel's 1000m world record at Brussels on 5 August, setting a new mark of 2min 29.34sec. At Gothenburg, Maria was the clear favourite to retain her world title, and she easily won her heat (see photo above. G Herringshaw ©)  on 10 August. However, Mutola's long wining streak came to an unfortunate end in the next day's semi-final, where she was disqualified for stepping outside her lane at the start of the race. She gained some measure of revenge at the Grand Prix final in Monaco on 9 September, where she easily beat the first five finishers at Gothenburg in the seasonís best time of 1min 55.72sec. (Ron Casey)


 

 Keen to atone for unfortunate disqualification at the previous year's World Championships in Gothenburg, Maria Mutola made a very strong start to her 1996 campaign. Early in the indoor season, she broke the World indoor record for 1000m at Birmingham on 10 February by over 2 seconds, setting a new mark of 2min 32.08sec. Not content with this performance, Mutola further reduced the record two weeks later in Stockholm, clocking a new time of 2min 31.23sec. In the 800m, her fastest time of 1min 57.12sec recorded at Lievin on 18 February, headed the season's list by over 3 seconds.

 

On this form, Maria was easily the favourite to win the Olympic gold medal at Atlanta in July. Competing in her third Olympics, although still only 23 years of age, Mutola won her semi-final on 27 July in 1min 57.62sec. Inexplicably, she was unable to produce her usual strong finish in the final two days later, finishing third behind Russian Svetlana Masterkova, whose winning time was slower than the time that Mutola had recorded in her semi-final. Subsequently, it was revealed that Mutola had been suffering from a bout of pneumonia during the Olympics.

 

Maria bounced back strongly in 1997, winning her third consecutive World Indoor 800m title in Paris on 9 March, in the season's best time of 1min 58.96sec. Supremacy in the 800m during the 1997 outdoor season was a two-woman battle between Mutola, and the 34 year-old Cuban, Ana Quirot. Unfortunately for Maria, she lost the first, and by far the most important of their seven encounters, at the World Championships in Athens. At the World Championships, Mutola easily won her semi-final on 7 August in 1min 57.49sec (see photo above © G. Herringshaw), but two days later, in the final, she could finish only third in the race behind Quirot. (Ron Casey)

.

 

 After her loss to Ana Quirot (Cuba) at the 1997 World Championships, Marie Mutola bounced back strongly to again dominate the 800m event during 1998. She won all but one of her twenty races over 800m during the year, five indoors and fifteen outdoors. Mutola also produced the fastest time of the year, 1min 56.11sec, at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on August 12. Prior to 1998, Maria's only opportunities to compete in major international competitions had been at the Olympic Games and the World Championships. However, in 1998, she became eligible to compete at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, following the admittance of Mozambique as a member country of the Commonwealth. At Kuala Lumpur, on 19 September, Mutola led throughout to win in 1min 57.60sec from her distant cousin, Tina Paulino, producing an historic one-two finish for Mozambique. In 1999, Maria started the year with her typically strong indoor season.

 

At Lievin, on 22 February, she bettered the 800m world record with a time of 1min 56.36sec. but unfortunately the record was not ratified as she had run inside the curb line on the last bend. At Maebashi, on March 7, Mutola was attempting to win her fourth successive world indoor title, but in a very fast race, she was narrowly beaten by Czech, Ludmila Formanova. In the outdoor season, Maria was the dominant force in competition leading up to the World Championships in Seville, beating a quality field, which included Formanova, at the Weltklasse meet in Zurich on 11 August in 1min 56.04sec. At Seville, on 24 August, Mutola appeared to have the race won, but she was just pipped on the line by Formanova ( photo above - taken by G. Herringshaw 24th. August), thus duplicating their finishing order at the World Indoors earlier in the year. (Ron Casey)

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