Nafi Thiam made history in Paris by winning the Olympic title in heptathlon for the third consecutive time.
The SUPPORTER Olympic Women’s campaign celebrates notable women athletes who have proudly represented or will represent their nations in the Olympic games. These athletes have made significant contributions to their respective sports and are powerful role models in this field.
One such athlete is Nafi Thiam. Her full name is Nafissatou Thiam. She is a Belgian athlete specialising in the heptathlon, a combined athletics discipline. Born in Brussels on 19 August 1994 to a Belgian mother and a Senegalese father, she holds the world record in pentathlon and is the reigning double world and European champion in heptathlon. She started participating in athletics when she was seven years old, winning her first national age group titles in 2009. At age nineteen, on 18 July 2013, she won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the European Junior Championships in Rieti, Italy.
Heptathlon is a combined track and field event consisting of seven athletic disciplines, spread over two days: 200 metres, 800 metres, 100 meters hurdles, high jump, long jump, shot put, and javelin. Each event scores points according to a standard scoring table, and the athlete with the highest cumulative score at the end of all seven events is declared the winner. Heptathlon was added to the Olympic programme in 1984.
Nafi Thiam’s personal best in heptathlon is 7,013 points, achieved in May 2017 in Götzis, Austria, making her one of the few athletes to have broken the 7,000-point barrier.
She won the Olympic titles at the 2016 Rio Games and the 2021 Tokyo Games, to become, ten days shy of her 30th birthday, the first athlete in history to become a triple Olympic champion in this discipline. Her extensive list of accomplishments and record-breaking performances position her among the most decorated athletes in the history of athletics. She also excels in other athletics disciplines, notably the high jump, with a remarkable personal best of 2.02 metres close to the 2.09 metres world record for the women's high jump.
Combined events such as heptathlon demand exceptional mental resilience, as they require the maintaining of a high-level performance over two days of intense competition. Thiam has come back stronger after every challenge, whether it be injury or the pressure of major competitions:
The heptathlon is a warrior's race. A few hours ago, I was still getting stitches in my knee. I was on the table thinking ‘this can't be happening’, but I'm really proud to have got through it. I'm really proud.’ (Thiam Nafi, after winning the gold medal in the Paris Olympics, 2024)
Nafi Thiam has shown great resilience. She has overcome injuries, coped with pressure, and found a balance between her professional and personal life. Her ability to bounce back from difficult times is one of the reasons she has become a world-class athlete and an inspiration to many.
In 2017, she was named the IAAF World Female Athlete of the Year and she graduated from the University of Liege with a bachelor’s degree in Geography in September 2019.
She serves as a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador.
Authors: UGOT team
Licensed image from: Wikipedia Contributors by Erik van Leeuwen (bron: Wikipedia)., CC BY-SA 4.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Featured image from: filip bossuyt from Kortrijk, Belgium, CC BY 2.0 <https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/2.0>, via Wikimedia Commons
Sources:
- https://nafithiam.com/
- https://www.rtl.be/sport/tous-les-sports/jo-2024/elle-est-legendaire-nafi-thiam-rentre-dans-lhistoire-en-remportant-la-medaille/2024-08-08/article/698303
- https://www.rtbf.be/article/nafi-thiam-a-nouveau-en-or-un-titre-olympique-c-est-le-pic-de-ta-carriere-mais-en-avoir-trois-11418721
- https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nafissatou_Thiam
