Tonique Williams-Darling
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| Olympic medal record | |||
| Women's Athletics | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Gold | 2004 Athens | 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.
She attended the University of South Carolina and graduated with a degree from the Moore School of Business in 1999.
It was her goal to make 2004 her most successful year, and she may have achieved just that. She started the year 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. In July 2004, 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.
Then at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece she 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 500.000 dollars (after splitting the million dollar pot with Christian Olsson).
She is married to fellow Bahamian Track and Field athlete Dennis Darling.
She won the gold medal in the 400 meters at 2005 World Championships in Athletics, in a head-to-head race with american 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.
For her achievements todate, the Bahamas Government has honoured Tonique by naming a major highway the "Tonique Willimas-Darling Highway"
[edit] External links
- Tonique Williams Pictures
- Caribbean Net News - Surprise loss at the Commonwealth Games
| Olympic champions in women's 400 m |
|---|
| 1964: Betty Cuthbert | 1968: Colette Besson | 1972: Monika Zehrt | 1976: Irena Szewińska | 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 |
