Personal information | |
---|---|
Nationality | Austria |
Born | Weiz, Austria | 29 March 1973
Height | 1.68 m (5 ft 6 in) |
Weight | 57 kg (126 lb) |
Sport | |
Sport | Athletics |
Event | Marathon |
Club | SV ADA Happy Lauf Anger |
Coached by | Harald Bauer |
Achievements and titles | |
Personal best | 2:30:52 |
Eva-Maria Gradwohl (born March 29, 1973, in Weiz) is a retired Austrian long-distance and marathon runner. [1] She is also four-time Austrian national champion in half-marathon, three-time in marathon, and two-time in 10-km road run. In 2010 Gradwohl retired from her sporting career, after refusing to take a doping test; according to NADA director Andreas Schwab, refusing to undergo a doping test was considered a positive test, and would be an obvious breach of the rules imposed in every sporting competition.
Gradwohl started her sporting career as a cyclist, until she began long-distance running at the Vienna Marathon. In 2002, she won her first national championship title in the Wachau Marathon, with a time of 1:14:47 for the half-marathon race, in addition to her personal best of 1:13:25, and two other titles in Vienna for the following year. She had also won medals in numerous marathon races, including silver at the Stockholm Marathon in 2006, and gold at the Linz Marathon in 2008, beating her personal best time of 2:30:51. Gradwohl did not only set a national record for her best possible time, but also reached a qualifying standard time of 2:33:00, which made her eligible to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. [2]
At age thirty-five, Gradwohl made her official Olympic debut, and competed in the women's marathon. She ran and finished the race in fifty-seventh place, with a time of 2:44:24, just fourteen minutes behind her personal best set in Linz. [3] In the following year, Gradwohl continued her winning streak at the Florence and Linz marathon.
On April 29, 2010, Gradwohl retired from her sporting career, after refusing to take a doping test, while on a vacation with her friends in Croatia. According to NADA director Andreas Schwab, refusing to undergo a doping test was considered a positive test, and would be an obvious breach of the rules imposed in every sporting competition. Gradwohl later admitted to the media reports that she was heavily involved in a personal relationship with former Nordic skiing coach Walter Mayer, who had been banned by the International Olympic Committee for a blood-doping scandal at the 2002 Winter Olympics in Salt Lake City, Utah, and also, for his alleged role in another doping scandal that rocked the Austrian national team at the 2006 Winter Olympics in Turin, Italy. [4]
Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon, three-time New York Marathon champion, the 2002 Chicago Marathon winner and the 2005 World Champion in the Marathon from Helsinki. She was previously the fastest female marathoner of all time, and held the Women's World Marathon Record with a time of 2:15:25 for 16 years from 2003 to 2019 when it was broken by Brigid Kosgei.
Kyoko Ina is an American figure skater. With partner John Zimmerman, she is the 2002 World bronze medalist and a three-time (2000–2002) U.S. national champion. The pair also competed at the 2002 Winter Olympics. With previous partner Jason Dungjen, Ina was a two-time U.S. champion and competed at the 1994 and 1998 Olympics.
Liliya Foatovna Nurutdinova is a retired middle-distance runner who represented the Soviet Union and the Unified Team.
Competitors at the Olympic Games have used banned athletic performance-enhancing drugs.
Vivian Peters-Chukwuemeka is a Nigerian shot putter and two-time Olympian. She won the gold medal in the shot put at the 2002 Commonwealth Games and has won three consecutive titles at the All-Africa Games from 1999 to 2007. She was the African Champion in the event in 2002, 2006 and 2008. She also competes in discus throw and hammer throw, but not on world level.
Inga Eduardovna Abitova is a Russian long-distance runner, who specializes in the 10,000 metres and the marathon. She was the 2006 European Champion in the 10,000 m and reached the final at the 2008 Summer Olympics.
The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain from 27 July to 1 August 2010. Barcelona was the first Spanish city to host the European Championships.
Rita Jeptoo is a Kenyan marathon runner. Originally a winner of the Boston Marathon three times, including setting the then course record at 2:18:57 in 2014, she had also won marathons in Chicago, Stockholm, and Milan, as well as having represented Kenya in the event at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics. She was the bronze medalist at the 2006 IAAF World Road Running Championships.
Lydia Cheromei is a Kenyan athlete born into a family of athletes. She specialises in long distance running. She rose to fame at the age of thirteen with a win in the junior race at the IAAF World Cross Country Championships. She took some years away from competition, citing burnout, and returned in the mid-nineties, making an appearance at the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Kara Goucher is an American long-distance runner. She was the 10,000 meters silver medalist at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics and represented the USA at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and 2012 London Olympics. She made her marathon debut in 2008 and finished third the following year at the Boston Marathon.
María Cristina Betancourt Ramírez is a retired Cuban discus thrower, born in Havana. Her personal best throw was 66.54 metres, achieved in February 1981 in Havana.
Élodie Ouédraogo is a retired Belgian sprinter of Burkinabé descent, who specializes in the 200 metres and 400 m hurdles. An Olympic gold medalist, her personal best time in the 200 m is 23.11 seconds, achieved in July 2004 in Brussels, while her personal best in the 400 m hurdles is 55.20, achieved at the 2012 Summer Olympics. Ouédraogo is also the joint third-fastest Belgian woman after Kim Gevaert and Olivia Borlée and equalling Nancy Callaerts with her best 100 metres time of 11.40. Her 200 metres best ranks her fourth amongst Belgian women after Gevaert, Borlée and Hanna Mariën. Her 400 m hurdles best places her as the second-fastest Belgian woman over the distance, after Ann Mercken.
Anna Carmela Incerti is an Italian long-distance runner who specializes in the marathon. She has represented Italy in the marathon at European, World and Olympic-level. She won the bronze in the event at the 2010 European Championships, later upgraded to silver and then to gold.
Rasa Drazdauskaitė is a Lithuanian long-distance runner. She represented her country at the 2008 Olympics in Beijing, finishing 37th in the marathon. She represented Lithuania again at London 2012, finishing in 27th place.
Lisa Christina Nemec is a Croatian American long-distance runner. Born and raised in the United States, where she competed for the Columbia University, Stublić moved to Croatia, her father's homeland, and established herself as a leading long-distance athlete in the country, having set the Croatian records in 3000 meters steeplechase, 5000 meters, half marathon, and marathon. She is the first Croatian marathon runner ever to qualify for the Olympic Games. She finished 52nd in the marathon at the 2012 Olympics.
Yevgeniya Nikolayevna Kolodko is a retired Russian shot putter.
Jemima Jelagat Sumgong is a Kenyan long-distance runner specialising in marathon races.
Abraham Kiprotich is a Kenyan-French long-distance runner. At the 2012 Summer Olympics, he competed in the Men's marathon but did not finish.
Almaz Ayana Eba is an Ethiopian female long-distance runner. She won the gold medal in the 10,000 metres and bronze in the 5,000 metres at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Almaz is a four-time World Athletics Championships medallist earning a bronze for the 5,000m in 2013, gold at the event in 2015 as well as gold in the 10,000m and silver in the 5,000m in 2017.
Eunice Jepkirui Kirwa is a Kenyan-born Bahraini long-distance runner who specialises in marathon running. Having switched countries in 2013, she is the Bahraini record holder with 2:21:17 hours for the distance, set in 2017 at Nagoya Women's Marathon. She was the silver medallist in the marathon at the 2016 Rio de Janeiro Olympic Games.