Nafissatou Thiam

Nafissatou Thiam
Personal information
Born (1994-08-19) 19 August 1994 (age 30)[1]
Brussels, Belgium[1][2]
Height1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)[3]
Weight69 kg (152 lb)[1]
Sport
CountryBelgium
SportAthletics
Event(s)Heptathlon, Pentathlon
ClubRFCL
Coached byMichael Van der Plaetsen (2022–)[4]
Roger Lespagnard (2008–2022)
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking1st (2023)
Personal bests

Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam (French pronunciation: [tʃam]; born 19 August 1994[5]) is a Belgian athlete specialising in multi-event competition. She is the first athlete with three multi-event gold medals at the Olympic Games, winning the heptathlon at the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris Olympics.[6] Her three individual Olympic golds in a row for a woman equals the record of Anita Wlodarczyk of Poland in the hammer and Faith Kipyegon in the 1500 metres[7] Thiam is also the only Belgian athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title.[8]

She won gold at the 2017 and 2022 World Championships, the 2018, 2022 and 2024 European Championships as well as the silver medal at the 2019 World Championships. Thiam was voted IAAF World Female Athlete of the Year in 2017. She was a Belgian flag bearer at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In May 2017, at the Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria, Thiam became only the fourth woman to break the heptathlon 7000-point barrier.[9] In March 2023, at the European Indoor Championships, on her way to a record third European pentathlon title, she set a world record with a score of 5055 points.[10][11] In doing so, Thiam became the first ever Belgian woman to set an official athletics world record.[12]

As of March 2023, Thiam holds the Belgian records in the heptathlon and pentathlon, javelin and long jump (out and indoors). She holds the world record for the high jump discipline within the heptathlon competition, set in 2019.

  1. ^ a b c Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Nafi Thiam". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 17 April 2020. Retrieved 16 July 2021.
  2. ^ "Page 12 Nafissatou Thiam" (PDF). Ligue Belge Francophone d'Athlétisme. 15 August 2016.
  3. ^ "THIAM Nafissatou". Paris 2024 Olympics. Retrieved 4 August 2024.
  4. ^ "Thiam to target scores and records in the next chapter of her career". European Athletics. 2 November 2022. Retrieved 2 November 2022.
  5. ^ "Nafissatou THIAM – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  6. ^ "Historic Olympic heptathlon hattrick for Thiam". European Athletic Association. 9 August 2024. Retrieved 10 August 2024.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: date and year (link)
  7. ^ In een bijzonder exclusief lijstje als tweede vrouw ooit: deze toppers gingen Nafi Thiam voor met historische hattrick
  8. ^ "Nafissatou Thiam of Belgium reigns supreme in Olympic heptathlon". www.olympics.com. 2021. Archived from the original on 5 August 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  9. ^ "Thiam breaks 7000 barrier in Gotzis". European Athletics. 2017. Retrieved 2 August 2022.
  10. ^ Cite error: The named reference AW2023PWR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  11. ^ Cite error: The named reference EA2023PWR was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  12. ^ "EK atletiek: het wereldrecord van Nafi Thiam is niet het enige goede nieuws" (in Dutch). Knack. 2023. Retrieved 10 March 2023.