A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά and ἄθλος. A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.
Ghada Shouaa is a retired Syrian heptathlete. At the 1996 Summer Olympics, she won her country's first and only Olympic gold medal. She was also a World and Asian heptathlon champion. She is considered one of the best Asian and Arab female athletes of all time. She was a Syrian flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.
Kelly Jade Sotherton is a British former heptathlete, long jumper and relay runner. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal-winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics. As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. Indoors, Sotherton was a World silver medallist, and twice European silver medallist in pentathlon, in which she was ranked seventh all-time in 2022.
Jalpaiguri is a city in the Indian state of West Bengal. It is the headquarters of the Jalpaiguri district as well as of the Jalpaiguri division of West Bengal, covering the jurisdiction of the five districts of North Bengal. The city is located on the banks of the Teesta River which is the second largest river in West Bengal after the Ganges, on the foothills of the Himalayas. The city is the home to the circuit bench of the Kolkata High Court, the other seat being at Port Blair in the Andaman and Nicobar Islands. Jalpaiguri features the Jalpaiguri Government Engineering College, the second campus of the University of North Bengal and the Biswa Bangla Krirangan/ Jalpaiguri Sports Village. It lies 35 km (22 mi) east of its twin city, Siliguri. The merging of the two cities makes it the largest metropolis of the region.
Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill is a retired British track and field athlete from England, specialising in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion, and the 2010 European champion. She is also the 2010 World Indoor pentathlon champion. A member of the City of Sheffield & Dearne athletic club, she is a former British national record holder for the heptathlon. She is also a former British record holder in the 100 metres hurdles, the high jump and the indoor pentathlon.
Jessica Zelinka is a Canadian pentathlete, heptathlete, and 100 m hurdler. Her personal best score is 6599 points for the heptathlon. She was the gold medalist at the 2007 Pan American Games. Zelinka won silver at the 2010 Commonwealth Games and repeated her silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. At the 2012 Summer Olympics Zelinka finished in 6th overall in the heptathlon and 7th in the 100 m hurdles.
Olga RypakovaAlekseyeva; 30 November 1984) is a former Kazakhstani track and field athlete. Originally a heptathlete, she switched to focus on the long jump and began to compete in the triple jump after 2007. Her first successes came in the combined events at Asian competitions – she won the women's pentathlon at the 2005 Asian Indoor Games and took the heptathlon gold at the 2006 Asian Games the following year.
Wassana Winatho, also known as Amornrat Winatho and Vassanee Vinatho, is a Thai track and field athlete who specialises in the heptathlon and the 400 metres hurdles. She represented Thailand at the 2008 Summer Olympics and competed at five consecutive editions of the Asian Games.
Yuki Nakata is a Japanese track and field athlete who competes in the women's heptathlon. She represented Japan at the 2004 Summer Olympics and has competed twice at the World Championships in Athletics. She was the silver medallist at the 2009 Asian Athletics Championships and the 2010 Asian Games and has won the heptathlon at the East Asian Games and the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships. With straight wins from 2002 to 2010, she is a nine time national champion and her best of 5962 points for the heptathlon is the national record for the event.
Dafne Schippers is a Dutch retired track and field athlete who competed in sprinting and the combined events. She holds the European record in the 200 metres with a time of 21.63 seconds, making her the sixth-fastest woman of all time at this distance. She also holds the Dutch records in the 100 metres and long jump, and shares the Dutch records in the 60 metres indoor and 4 × 100 metres relay.
In India, the sport of athletics was introduced during the period of the British Raj. The sport is governed at national level by the Athletics Federation of India, which was formed in 1946. Despite its large population, few Indian athletes have won a medal in a global or major championship. This began to change in the 21st century, when Indians started taking greater interest in athletics more generally and improved facilities for the sport began to be built at a local level. At a continental level, it has been among the more successful Asian nations, though some distance behind China and Japan.
Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson is an English athlete. A multi-eventer, she is primarily known as both a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. In heptathlon she is a double world champion and double Commonwealth Games champion. In indoor pentathlon, she is a world and double European champion.
Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam is a Belgian athlete specialising in multi-event competition. She is a two-time Olympic gold medalist, winning the heptathlon event at the 2016 Rio and 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Thiam is the only Belgian athlete, male or female, to successfully defend an Olympic title and only the second woman after Jackie Joyner-Kersee to win back-to-back Olympic titles in the event.
Wang Qingling is a Chinese track and field athlete who competes in the heptathlon and pentathlon. She holds personal bests of 5785 and 4246 points for the events, respectively. She was the gold medallist at the Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in 2014 and won both the Chinese Championships and National Games of China in 2013.
The GoSports Foundation (GSF) is an independent, donor-funded non-profit venture, working towards securing funds and professional expertise for some of India's junior Olympic and Paralympic athletes. Established in 2008, it has worked with numerous athletes from across multiple Olympic and Paralympic disciplines through its scholarship programs.
Ekaterina Alexandrovna Voronina is an Uzbekistani track and field athlete who competes in the heptathlon. Her personal best for the event is 5912 points. She was the gold medallist in the event at the 2014 Asian Games. She is part of the Central Army Sports Club and is coached by Pavel Andreev, a compatriot and fellow multi-eventer.
Nadine Visser is a Dutch track and field athlete who competed in the combined events until 2017 and specialises in short hurdling since 2018.
Purnima Hembram is an Indian track and field athlete. She won bronze medals in the heptathlon at the 2015 and 2017 Asian Championships and placed fourth at the 2018 Asian Games.
Meg Hemphill is a Japanese track and field athlete. She is the Japanese national champion in 2017 and was placed second in the 2017 Asian Athletics Championships heptathlon.
The women's heptathlon event at the 2018 Asian Games was held at the Gelora Bung Karno Stadium, Jakarta, Indonesia on 28–29 August. The event was won by Swapna Barman from India.
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