Carolina Klüft

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Medal record
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Carolina Klüft
Competitor for Flag of Sweden Sweden
Women's athletics
Olympic Games
Gold 2004 Athens Heptathlon
World Championships
Gold 2003 Paris Heptathlon
Gold 2005 Helsinki Heptathlon
European Championships
Gold 2002 Munich Heptathlon
Gold 2006 Gothenburg Heptathlon

Carolina Evelyn Klüft (Swedish IPA: [klʏfːt]) (born February 2, 1983) is a Swedish athlete competing in heptathlon, long jump and pentathlon. She is the current Olympic, World (twice) and European (twice) heptathlon champion and is regarded as one of the best female athletes in the world.

She is also normally a member of the Swedish 4 x 100 m relay team at international competitions, and was part of the team that set the national record.

Her main coach is Agne Bergvall. She is 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) tall and weighs 65 kg.

Contents

[edit] Biography

Born in Sandhult, Västergötland, Carolina Klüft grew up in Växjö, where her father, mother and three sisters still live. She currently lives in Karlskrona together with her boyfriend Patrik Kristiansson, who is a pole vaulter. When she's not training or competing she is a student at the University of Växjö, studying Peace and Development. She has visited areas of Sri Lanka hit by the 2004 Boxing Day Tsunami to make a film for Swedish TV[1] and also sponsors children in Africa.

Klüft is renowned for her friendly nature and exuberance when competing. This makes her very popular amongst fans and fellow athletes. She is particularly friendly with British rival Kelly Sotherton, and the two can often be seen chatting during competitions. Klüft regularly leads the other heptathletes on a lap of honour after a major competition.

She is part of Reebok's "I am what I am" advertising campaign along with several other sports stars.[2] She has been the focus of poster photography for Reebok, taken by celebrity photographer Jason Bell.[3]

Carolina has been nominated for three consecutive Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year awards from 2005-2007.[4]

Klüft was an exceptional junior, developing very quickly compared to most multi-event athletes. During the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics, at the age of 19, she set a world junior record by scoring 6,470 points. Less than two months later she bettered her record by winning the 2002 European Athletics Championships in Munich with a score of 6,542 points.

By heptathlon standards Klüft has always been excellent in the jumping events and also in sprinting and hurdling. She has steadily improved in the throwing events and 800 m and now has no weak events.

She has currently, as of February 3, 2007, been ranked the number one female pentathlete / heptathlete in the world unbroken since September 16, 2002, making it more than four years as number one on the list. She has also been unbeaten in heptathlon and pentathlon over this period, winning nine consecutive gold medals in major championships

Klüft is one of very few athletes to at some time hold all five available international titles, Olympic, World Outdoor, Regional (Europe in her case) Outdoor, World Indoor and Regional Indoor. And at the age of 22 she was the youngest athlete ever to hold all five.

She has had regular success in indoor pentathlons, winning the 2003 World Indoor Championships and the European Indoor Championships in 2005 and 2007. Her pentathlon personal best of 4948 points ranks her second on the all-time list.[5] Her victory in the 2007 European Indoor Championships in Birmingham was by a margin of only 17 points over home favourite Kelly Sotherton.[6] Carolina competed in the long jump in the 2004 World Indoor Championships, winning a bronze medal. She chose not to compete at the 2006 World Indoor Championships in order to prepare for the European Championships in Gothenburg.

[edit] Performance in Outdoor Championships

[edit] 2002 European Championships

Klüft captured her first major championship title at the 2002 European Athletics Championships in Munich with a score of 6,542 points, improving her own world junior record in the process.

[edit] 2003 World Championships

Klüft won the heptathlon at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics in Paris with a score of 7,001 points, ahead of Eunice Barber, who had 6,755 points. Klüft thus became the third woman ever to break the 7,000 point barrier in the heptathlon. She set six personal bests in the seven disciplines but at one stage was on the brink of elimination from the competition after overstepping on the first two of her three long jump attempts. She was later awarded Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2003. That same year, Klüft also received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal.

[edit] 2004 Olympics

Klüft also won the heptathlon at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens with a score of 6,952 points. She took the lead after the high jump and extended her lead after every event from then on. With Eunice Barber absent through injury, Klüft won by an Olympic record margin of 517 points, ahead of Austra Skujyte. She also entered the long jump, qualifying for the final but finishing 11th.

[edit] 2005 World Championships

The day before the 2005 World Championships in Athletics in Helsinki, Klüft injured her foot. The injury affected her performance, particularly in the high jump. Klüft fell well behind Eunice Barber but made a comeback with a shot put of 15.02 m and took the lead after the 200 m. She then stretched her lead with a long jump effort of 6.87 m, which Barber argued should have been judged a foul, and held on to her advantage through the javelin and 800 m events. Klüft totaled 6,887 points, finishing ahead of Barber who took the silver medal with 6,824 points.

[edit] 2006 European Championships

Klüft retained her European Championships title on home soil in the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden with a score of 6,740 points, despite having been hampered by injuries throughout her preparation. She performed well below her best but still won comfortably following the withdrawal of her rival Barber after the high jump. She cried on the podium after recieving the gold medal. Kluft went on to compete in the individual long jump but again struggled for form, finishing 6th.

[edit] Full Timeline of Multi-event Championship Performances

  • 2000 Junior World Champion Heptathlon
  • 2001 Junior European Champion Heptathlon
  • 2002 European Indoor Bronze Medalist Pentathlon (last event she's lost to date)
  • 2002 Junior World Champion Heptathlon (defending), World Junior Record
  • 2002 European Champion Heptathlon, current World Junior Record
  • 2003 World Indoor Champion Pentathlon
  • 2003 World Champion Heptathlon, 3rd female past 7,000 points
  • 2004 Olympic Champion Heptathlon
  • 2005 European Indoor Champion Pentathlon
  • 2005 World Champion Heptathlon (defending)
  • 2006 European Champion Heptathlon (defending), championship record
  • 2007 European Indoor Champion Pentathlon (defending)

[edit] International medals

[edit] Heptathlon

[edit] Long jump

[edit] Pentathlon

[edit] International awards

[edit] Personal bests

Event Indoor Outdoor
4 x 100 metres 43.61 s
4 x 400 metres 3:31.28 min
60 metres 7.40 s
60 metres hurdles 8.19 s
100 metres 11.48 s
100 metres hurdles 13.15 s
200 metres 24.12 s 22.98 s
400 metres 53.25 s 53.17 s
800 metres 2:08.89 min
Heptathlon 7,001 p
High jump 1.93 m 1.94 m
Javelin throw 50.96 m
Long jump 6.92 m 6.97 m
Pentathlon 4,948 p
Shot put 14.48 m 15.05 m
Triple jump 13.87 m

[edit] References

[edit] External links


Olympic champions in women's pentathlon and heptathlon
As pentathlon: 1964: Irina Press | 1968: Ingrid Becker | 1972: Mary Peters | 1976: Siegrun Siegl | 1980: Nadezhda Tkachenko
As heptathlon: 1984: Glynis Nunn | 1988: Jackie Joyner-Kersee | 1992: Jackie Joyner-Kersee| 1996: Ghada Shouaa | 2000: Denise Lewis | 2004: Carolina Klüft


Preceded by
Süreyya Ayhan		 Women's European Athlete of the Year
2003		 Succeeded by
Kelly Holmes
Preceded by
Susanne Ljungskog		 Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal
2003		 Succeeded by
Stefan Holm
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