Frankie FREDERICKS

Frankie Fredericks - Namibia - A third 200m silver at the 1997 World Championships.

Photo/Foto: George Herringshaw

Date: 08 August 1997

Click on image to enlarge

    • DATE OF BIRTH
      Monday, 02 October 1967
    • PLACE OF BIRTH
      Windhoek, Namibia
  • INTERNATIONAL
  • Namibia
    • Event(s)
      100m, 200m
    • Championship Performances
      Olympics: 1992 silver 100m & 200m, 1996 silver 100m & 200m.
      Worlds: 1991 silver 200m, 1993 Gold 200m, 1995 & 1997 silver 200m.
      Commonwealth:
      1994 bronze 100m, Gold 200m, 1998 silver 100m, 2002 Gold 200m.
      World Indoors: 1993
      silver 60m, 1999 Gold 200m
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Frankie FREDERICKS - Namibia - A third 200m silver at the 1997 World Championships.

 

The career of Frankie Fredericks reached its zenith in 1996, when he set his career bests of 9.86sec in the 100m, and 19.68sec in the 200m, as well as setting a world indoor record of 19.92sec over 200m. However, although the times started to slow after that, Fredericks showed in 1997, as he entered his 30th year, that there was still plenty of speed left in his ageing legs. During 1997, Fredericks produced a record nine legal sub-10sec performances over 100m in the one season, improving his own record of seven set the previous year.

 

At the World Championships in Athens, Frankie continued his unlucky string of finishes in the 100m when he finished fourth in 9.95sec. Between 1991 and 1997, Frankie competed in all four 100m finals at the World Championships, finishing no lower than sixth place on each occasion, but never winning a medal. His fortunes were a lot better in the 200m final on 8 August, where Frankie finished second (see photo above, No. 802) behind Ato Boldon (Trinidad & Tobago) in 20.23sec.

 

At the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur in September 1998, he won the silver medal behind Boldon in the 100m in 9.96sec. Only four days earlier, he had been at the World Cup in Johannesburg, where he won the 200m in 19.97sec, his fastest time of the year. Fredericks' last major victory was at the 1999 World Indoor Championships in Maebashi, where he won the 200m in 20.10sec. Later that year, at the World Championships in Seville, he qualified for both the semi-finals of the 100m and the final of the 200m, but withdrew from both due to injury.

 

His 2000 and 2001 seasons were also severely restricted due to injury, preventing him from competing at the 2000 Olympic Games and the 2001 World Championships. (Ron Casey)