Nafissatou Thiam

Nafissatou Thiam

File:Nafissatou Thiam Barcelona 2012.jpg
Personal information
Born	(1994-08-19) 19 August 1994
Height
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)
Sport
Country	Belgium
Club	RFCL
Now coaching	Roger Lespagnard
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	Pentathlon: 4558 points; junior indoor world record
Medal record European Championships 2014 Zürich Heptathlon European Indoor Championships 2015 Prague Pentathlon European U23 Championships 2015 Tallinn High Jump European Junior Championships 2013 Rieti Heptathlon

Nafissatou Thiam (born 19 August 1994) is a Belgian athlete, who broke the indoor junior world record on the women's pentathlon on 3 February 2013. This record could not be ratified, because the compulsory anti-doping control could not be organized in time.

Thiam, daughter of a Belgian mother and a Senegalese father, is a member of RFCL, an athletics club from Liège, and is coached by Roger Lespagnard. She studies geography at the University of Liège.

Nafissatou Thiam started with athletics when she was seven years old. She won her first national age group titles in 2009, when she was already participating in the heptathlon. Her favorite athlete when she was 15 was Carolina Klüft.

At the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Lille, France, she finished fourth in the heptathlon with a total of 5366 points. As a first-year junior, she finished 14th at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics in the heptathlon.

On 3 February 2013, Thiam broke the junior indoor world record on the pentathlon at a meeting in Ghent. Carolina Klüft, who later became Olympic champion and triple world champion, had held the record since 2002 with 4535 points. Thiam totalled 4558 points, breaking her personal best on 4 of the 5 events. She is the first Belgian woman athlete ever to break a world record. However, in March 2013, the record was eventually not approved, because of a lack of anti-doping control on the day she achieved it; it took place the next day, which was beyond the deadline.

On 18 July 2013 Thiam won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the European Junior Athletics Championships, achieving a new Belgian record score of 6298 points.

Palmares

National titles:

• 2009, cadet: indoor: pentathlon, 3303 points
• 2009, cadet: outdoor: triple jump, 11m 20 cm; hexathlon, 4172 points
• 2010, scholar: outdoor: javelin throw, 39m 15 cm
• 2011, scholar: indoor: pentathlon, 4095 points
• 2011, scholar: outdoor: heptathlon, 5458 points; shot put, 12m 45 cm
• 2012, junior, indoor: pentathlon, 4322 points (broke the Belgian junior record of Tia Hellebaut)
• 2012, junior, outdoor: high jump, 1m 77 cm

European Athletics Championship:

• 2014, heptathlon: outdoor, bronze medal (6423 points)

Personal bests

Performances table during the junior indoor world record in 2013

Event	Performance	Points	Thiam vs Klüft
60 metres hurdles	8.65 s	989	8.49 s
High jump	1.86 m	1067	1.81 m
Shot Put	14.00 m	786	12.71 m
Long jump	6.30 m	902	6.24 m
800 m	2:22.82	749	2:14:95
Total	JIWR	4558	+23 points

Personal bests

• 60 metres hurdles: 8.63 s
• 100 metres hurdles: 13.81 s
• Long jump: 6.37 m
• High jump: 1.94 m (indoor), 1.97 (outdoor)
• 200 m: 24.78 s
• Shot put: 15.03 m
• Javelin throw: 51.90 m
• 800 m: 2:21.18 (indoor), 2:20.79 (outdoor)
• Heptathlon: 6508 points
• Pentathlon: 4558 points (indoor)