|
}} Letitia Alma Vriesde (born 5 October 1964) is a female former track and field athlete from Suriname, who specialised in the 800 m but was also successful over 1500 m. She is the first (and as of 2015, only) sportsperson from Suriname to compete at five Olympic Games.〔http://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/vr/letitia-vriesde-1.html〕 Vriesde holds the South American records for 800 m, 1000 m and 1500 m (indoors and outdoors) and also for 3000 m (indoors). ==Career== She started running in Suriname but after her National Olympic Committee failed to send her to the 1984 Summer Olympics. Her coach was Luiz de Oliveira. She left Suriname after the 1984 Olympics to train in the Netherlands. She competed in the 800 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and broke into the highest echelons of her event in 1991, when she reached the finals of both 800 m and 1500 m at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo, finishing in fifth and ninth places respectively. She won a silver medal at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 1995 behind Ana Quirot. This was in addition to the bronze medal she had already achieved earlier that year at the IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics. These medals were the first to be won by a South American female athlete in world championship competition. She also won a bronze medal at the 2001 world outdoor championships, but has never managed to reach an Olympic final. At the 1992 Summer Olympics she set a record of sorts by recording the fastest ever non-qualifying time(1:58.29) in an 800 m semi final. She has also won many medals at the Pan-American Games and Central American Games. She was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal after the 2003 Pan-American Games after testing positive for excessive caffeine levels. She was said to have the equivalent of 5 gallons of coffee in her system, a PASO official said, and admitted her guilt. She was not banned however and went on to compete at that year's World Championships. Drinking too much coffee or taking a common cold tablet would no longer get athletes disqualified. A new global list of banned substances was drawn up by the World Anti-Doping Agency, following more than two years of research, analysis and debate. Experts now had drawn up an all-encompassing list of prohibited steroids, stimulants, blood-boosters, narcotics and other drugs. On January 1, 2004 it was applied to all sports and all countries covered by WADA's global anti-doping code. At the end of the 2005 season, having contested seven world championships and five Olympic Games, she declared that she would not run 800 m competitively anymore, and that she would instead focus on longer distances, including the 3000 m steeplechase. She ended her career though. In Paramaribo a street formerly known as ''Cultuurtuinlaan'' was changed into ''Letitia Vriesdelaan''. The Surinamese Government also gave her a piece of land as an appreciation. She married Bas van Veen on 9 September 2005 in Middelburg, Holland. Her daughter Joi Vienna was born on 19 March 2007. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Letitia Vriesde」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
|