Sources
Help build the largest human-edited directory on the web.
Submit a site - Become an editor
Wikipedia. Licensed under the GNU Free Documentation License.
Are you an expert in this subject? Join the discussion and share your knowledge at Wikipedia.org.
Tonique Williams-Darling
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
| Medal record | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Women's athletics | |||
| Olympic Games | |||
| Gold | 2004 Athens | 400 m | |
| World Championships | |||
| Gold | 2005 Helsinki | 400 m | |
Tonique Williams-Darling (born January 17, 1976) is a Bahamian sprint athlete. She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece.
Contents |
She attended the University of South Carolina, graduating with a degree from the Moore School of Business in 1999.
Williams-Darling had a breakout year in 2004. She started with a bronze medal at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary, running a personal best behind Russia's Natalya Nazarova and Olesya Krasnomovets. Then in July, at the Rome meeting of the IAAF Golden League, Tonique broke Mexican world champion Ana Guevara's 23 race winning streak in the 400 meter race.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece Williams-Darling beat Guevara again. In a head to head final straight, she proved to be more powerful than the Mexican runner who had been hampered with injuries and trained only on a limited basis prior to the Games.
Winning the race, she became Bahamas first individual Olympic gold medalist.
After the Olympics she secured the win in the overall Golden League-jackpot, cashing in US $500,000 after splitting the US $1M pot with Christian Olsson.
She also won the gold medal in the 400 meters at 2005 World Championships in Athletics, in a head-to-head race with American 400-meter specialist Sanya Richards.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, despite being the favourite, she was unexpectedly beaten both in her semi-final and the final by Christine Ohuruogu of England, claiming silver instead.
Williams-Darling is currently taking the 2007 season off to nurse a hamstring injury.[1]
She is married to fellow Bahamian Track and Field athlete Dennis Darling.
For her achievements todate, the Bahamas Government has honoured Tonique by naming a major highway the "Tonique Williams-Darling Highway."
- ^ Tonique takes the year off. Retrieved on 2007-08-18.
- Tonique Williams Pictures
- Caribbean Net News - Surprise loss at the Commonwealth Games
|
|
|---|
| 1964: Betty Cuthbert • 1968: Colette Besson • 1972: Monika Zehrt • 1976: Irena Szewinska • 1980: Marita Koch • 1984: Valerie Brisco-Hooks • 1988: Olga Bryzgina • 1992 Marie-José Perec • 1996: Marie-José Perec • 2000: Cathy Freeman • 2004: Tonique Williams-Darling |