Carolina Klüft facts for kids

Quick facts for kids
Carolina Klüft

Carolina Klüft in 2013
Personal information
Full name	Carolina Evelyn Klüft
Born	(1983-02-02) 2 February 1983 (age 42) Sandhult, Borås Municipality, Sweden
Height	1.78 m
Weight	65 kg
Sport
Country	Sweden
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Heptathlon and pentathlon, long jump, triple jump
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Sweden Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 1 0 0 World Championships 3 0 0 World Indoor Championships 1 0 1 European Championships 2 0 0 European Indoor Championships 2 0 1 Total 9 0 2 Olympic Games Gold 2004 Athens Heptathlon World Championships Gold 2003 Paris Heptathlon Gold 2005 Helsinki Heptathlon Gold 2007 Osaka Heptathlon World Indoor Championships Gold 2003 Birmingham Pentathlon Bronze 2004 Budapest Long jump European Championships Gold 2002 Munich Heptathlon Gold 2006 Gothenburg Heptathlon European Indoor Championships Gold 2005 Madrid Pentathlon Gold 2007 Birmingham Pentathlon Bronze 2002 Vienna Pentathlon

Carolina Klüft, born on February 2, 1983, is a famous athlete from Sweden. She used to compete in track and field events like the heptathlon, pentathlon, long jump, and triple jump. She is an Olympic Champion, winning the heptathlon gold medal in 2004.

Carolina also won the World Championships in heptathlon three times. She was a World Indoor pentathlon champion and a two-time European heptathlon champion. She also won the European Indoor pentathlon title twice. Carolina is the only athlete to win three world titles in the heptathlon in a row (2003, 2005, 2007).

She had an amazing winning streak! From 2002 to 2007, she didn't lose a single heptathlon or pentathlon competition. She won nine gold medals in a row at major championships during her senior career.

Carolina first became well-known when she won the heptathlon at the 2002 European Championships. She set a new world junior record with 6,542 points. Then, she won the 2003 World Championships, becoming only the third athlete to score over 7,000 points. She holds the European record for heptathlon with her best score of 7,032 points. This score makes her the second-best heptathlete of all time, right after Jackie Joyner-Kersee.

Besides being a top heptathlete, Carolina was also very good at the long jump. She won a bronze medal at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest. She also finished fourth at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu. Carolina officially retired from sports on September 2, 2012.

About Carolina Klüft

Carolina Klüft was born in Sandhult, Västergötland, Sweden. She grew up in Växjö, where her family still lives. Today, she lives in Norrköping with her husband, Patrik Klüft, who used to be a pole vaulter. They got married in September 2007 in Scotland.

Family and Early Life

Carolina comes from a family that loves sports. Her father, Johnny, played professional football in Sweden. Her mother was also an international long jumper. Carolina started playing football herself but switched to athletics when she was twelve. She has shared that she was bullied at school after moving to Växjö. She used her athletic skills to gain respect.

In 2000, her coach, Agne Bergvall, suggested she try the heptathlon. He thought she had a bright future in it. Bergvall has been her main coach ever since.

Athlete Profile

Carolina is 1.78 meters (about 5 feet 10 inches) tall and weighs 65 kilograms (about 143 pounds). Her body was perfect for multi-events. She was tall and lean for running and jumping. She was also strong enough for events like the shot put and javelin. She was naturally good at jumping, sprinting, and hurdles. She kept getting better at throwing events and the 800-meter run. People said she had no weak spots in the seven events. This was clear when she finished in the top six in all parts of the 2007 World Championship heptathlon.

She was also part of the Swedish 4 × 100 meter relay team. This team even set a national record. Carolina was good friends with her British rival, Kelly Sotherton. They were often seen chatting during competitions. Carolina often led the other heptathletes on a lap of honor after big events. Many people who know her call her by her nickname, 'Carro'.

Life Outside of Sports

When she wasn't training or competing, Carolina was a student at Linnaeus University. She studied Peace and Development. She visited areas in Sri Lanka that were hit by the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake to make a film for Swedish TV. She also helps sponsor children in Africa.

Carolina was part of Reebok's "I am what I am" advertising campaign. She was featured in posters taken by famous photographer Jason Bell. She was nominated for the Laureus World Sportswoman of the Year award four times from 2005 to 2008.

She had a special mascot, a small stuffed toy of Eeyore from Winnie the Pooh. She took it everywhere with her. Carolina said it wasn't for luck. It was to remind her that sports should be fun.

She also appeared as a celebrity dancer in "Let's Dance 2025" on TV4. Carolina is one of the few athletes to hold all five major international titles at some point: Olympic, World Outdoor, European Outdoor, World Indoor, and European Indoor.

Carolina's Amazing Career

2002: First European Title

Carolina was an amazing junior athlete. At just 19 years old, she set a world junior record at the 2002 World Junior Championships in Athletics. She scored 6,470 points. She then won her first big championship title at the 2002 European Championships in Munich. She scored 6,542 points, breaking her own world junior record.

2003: First World Title

Carolina won the pentathlon title at the 2003 World Indoor Championships with 4933 points. After that, she set personal bests and won heptathlons in Götzis and Tallinn.

She won her first major outdoor title, the heptathlon, at the 2003 World Championships in Paris. She scored 7,001 points, beating Eunice Barber. Carolina became only the third woman to score over 7,000 points in the heptathlon. She set six personal bests in the seven events. This included a 1.94-meter high jump and a 200-meter run in 22.98 seconds. At one point, she almost didn't make it in the long jump. She stepped over the line on her first two tries. But she made her last jump count, recording the best jump of the competition at 6.68 meters. She was later given the European Athlete of the Year Trophy 2003. She also received the Svenska Dagbladet Gold Medal that year.

2004: Olympic Gold Medalist

Carolina competed in the long jump at the 2004 World Indoor Championships. She won a bronze medal with a new national record of 6.92 meters. She got ready for the 2004 Olympics by winning heptathlons in Götzis and Tallinn.

She won the heptathlon gold medal at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She scored 6,952 points. She took the lead after the high jump and kept increasing it after every event. Her rival, Eunice Barber, was not there due to injury. Carolina won by a huge margin of 517 points, an Olympic record. She finished far ahead of Austra Skujytė. She also entered the long jump, making it to the final, where she finished 11th.

2005: Second World Title

Carolina Klüft at the 2005 European U23 Championships, where she competed in the long jump event.

Carolina started 2005 by winning the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships. She set a new personal best of 4948 points. She won for the third time in a row at Götzis and then again in Jyväskylä. This prepared her to defend her heptathlon world title.

The day before the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki, Carolina hurt her foot. This injury affected her performance, especially in the high jump, where she only cleared 1.82 meters. Carolina fell behind Eunice Barber. But she made a comeback with a personal best in the shot put of 15.02 meters. She then took the lead after the 200-meter race. She increased her lead with a long jump of 6.87 meters. She held onto a small lead of only 18 points after the javelin. She finally passed Barber at the end of the 800-meter race to keep her title. Carolina scored 6,887 points, finishing ahead of Barber, who won the silver medal with 6,824 points.

2006: Second European Title

Carolina decided not to compete at the 2006 World Indoor Championships. She wanted to focus on preparing for the European Championships, which were held in her home country, Sweden. Carolina won again in Götzis and in Arles.

She defended her title at the 2006 European Athletics Championships with a score of 6,740 points. She had been dealing with injuries during her training. She didn't perform at her very best, but she still won easily. Her rival Barber had to stop competing after the high jump. Carolina also competed in the individual long jump but finished 6th.

2007: Third World Title

Carolina Klüft races the 800 m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka.

Her victory in the 2007 European Indoor Championships in Birmingham was very close. She won by only 17 points over the home favorite, Kelly Sotherton. Carolina almost broke the world pentathlon record again, with a score of 4944 points.

She was still recovering from her fitness problems from the year before. She only did one heptathlon before the World Championships, which was her fifth win in Götzis.

At the World Championships in Osaka, Carolina had a chance to become the only woman to win three world titles in the heptathlon. But she faced tough competition from Lyudmila Blonska of Ukraine. Blonska had set the world's best heptathlon score of 2007 earlier that year. Carolina started the first day by matching her personal best of 13.15 seconds in the 100-meter hurdles. She also set a new personal best of 1.95 meters in the high jump. She had strong performances of 14.81 meters in the shot put and 23.38 seconds in the 200-meter race. Carolina held the lead over Blonska after day one, with 4162 points.

On the second day, Carolina recorded a long jump of 6.85 meters. She threw 47.98 meters in the javelin and ran 2:12.56 in the 800 meters. This secured her third World Championship gold medal. She achieved a personal best score of 7,032 points. This put her second on the all-time list and broke Larisa Turchinskaya's 18-year-old European record.

2008: Injury and New Events

Carolina competed in an indoor triathlon (60-meter hurdles, long jump, and 400-meter) in the Birmingham Indoor Grand Prix. She won the competition after setting an indoor personal best of 52.98 seconds in the 400 meters. Kelly Sotherton finished just 18 points behind Carolina. On February 22, Carolina announced that she had hurt her hamstring. Because of this, she would not compete at the World Indoor Championships on March 7.

On March 19, Carolina announced that she would not compete in any heptathlons in 2008. This included defending her title at the Olympics. She said she was no longer motivated to train for heptathlons. Instead, she decided to focus on the long jump and also train seriously for the triple jump. Even though Carolina was new to triple jump, she worked with Yannick Tregaro. He was the coach of Olympic champion Christian Olsson. He believed she could jump over 14.50 meters.

She entered both the long jump and triple jump at the 2008 Olympics. Her best triple jump of 13.90 meters was not enough to qualify for the final. She finished ninth in the long jump with a result of 6.49 meters. Even though Carolina did not defend her heptathlon title at the Beijing Olympics, she said she might compete in another heptathlon after the 2008 season.

2009: Injury and Surgery

Carolina missed the 2009 World Championships in Berlin. She also missed the rest of the season because of a hamstring injury she got in July in Sweden. She had surgery in mid-July. After that, she needed about six months to recover.

2010: European Long Jump Finalist

Carolina competed in the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona. She reached the long jump final but finished 11th out of twelve athletes. She jumped 6.33 meters, which was almost 60 centimeters behind the gold medalist, Ineta Radēviča of Latvia. Carolina said she "didn't have any power in my legs" and "my legs felt heavy today" after qualifying for the final. She also said that just reaching the final made her happy.

2011: Fourth in World Long Jump

The long jump at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu was Carolina's last major championship. After a qualifying jump of 6.60 meters, Carolina only managed 6.56 meters in the final. This result was still good enough for fourth place. However, she was 18 centimeters behind Nastassia Mironchyk-Ivanova from Belarus, who won the bronze medal.

Achievements and Records

Carolina Klüft with her medals in 2007

Carolina Klüft achieved many great things in her career. She won multiple gold medals at the Olympics, World Championships, and European Championships. She also set several records.

International Competitions

Representing  Sweden

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Result	Notes
2000	World Junior Championships	Santiago, Chile	1st	Heptathlon	6056 pts	WJL
2001	European Junior Championships	Grosseto, Italy	1st	Heptathlon	6022 pts	SB
2002	European Indoor Championships	Vienna, Austria	3rd	Pentathlon	4535 pts	PB
	World Junior Championships	Kingston, Jamaica	1st	Heptathlon	6470 pts	WJR
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	1st	Heptathlon	6542 pts	WJR
2003	World Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	1st	Pentathlon	4933 pts	CR NR
	European U23 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	1st	Long jump	6.86 m	CR NR
	World Championships	Paris, France	1st	Heptathlon	7001 pts	WL NR
2004	World Indoor Championships	Budapest, Hungary	3rd	Long jump	6.92 m	NR
	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	11th	Long jump	6.63 m
			1st	Heptathlon	6952 pts	WL SB
2005	European Indoor Championships	Madrid, Spain	1st	Pentathlon	4948 pts	WL CR NR
	European U23 Championships	Erfurt, Germany	1st	Long jump	6.79 m
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	1st	Heptathlon	6887 pts	WL SB
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	5th	4 × 100 m relay	44.16
			6th	Long jump	6.54 m
			1st	Heptathlon	6740 pts	WL CR
2007	European Indoor Championships	Birmingham, United Kingdom	1st	Pentathlon	4944 pts	WL SB
	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	1st	Heptathlon	7032 pts	WL AR
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	8th	Long jump	6.49 m
			18th (q)	Triple jump	13.97 m
2010	European Championships	Barcelona, Spain	11th	Long jump	6.33 m
2011	European Team Championships Super League	Stockholm, Sweden	2nd	Long jump	6.73 m	SB
	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	4th	Long jump	6.56 m

Personal Best Scores

Other Awards and Honors

• IAAF Golden League
  • 2006 Oslo Bislett Games (Long jump)
• IAAF Combined Events Challenge Overall winner: 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006
  • Hypo-Meeting: 2003 (WL), 2004 (WL), 2005 (WL), 2006 (WL), 2007 (WL)

National Titles in Sweden

• Swedish Athletics Championships
  • 100 metres: 2003, 2004, 2011
  • 200 metres: 2005
  • High jump: 2004
  • Long jump: 2001, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2010, 2011
• Swedish Indoor Athletics Championships
  • Long jump: 2002, 2003, 2004

Special Recognitions

• Waterford Crystal European Athlete of the Year Trophy: 2003 and 2006
• Jerring Award: 2002

See also

In Spanish: Carolina Klüft para niños