Nafissatou Thiam facts for kids

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Nafissatou Thiam

Thiam at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene
Personal information
Born	(1994-08-19) 19 August 1994 (age 30) Brussels, Belgium
Height	1.87 m
Weight	69 kg
Sport
Country	Belgium
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Heptathlon, Pentathlon
Club	RFCL
Coached by	Michael Van der Plaetsen (2022–) Roger Lespagnard (2008–2022)
Achievements and titles
Highest world ranking	1st (2023)
Personal best(s)	Heptathlon: 7013 pts (3rd of all time) NR (Götzis 2017) Pentathlon: 5055 pts WR (Istanbul 2023)
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Belgium Event 1st 2nd 3rd Olympic Games 3 0 0 World Championships 2 1 0 European Championships 3 0 1 European Indoor Championships 3 1 0 European U-23 Championships 0 1 0 European Jnr Championships 1 0 0 Event 1st 2nd 3rd Heptathlon 8 1 1 Pentathlon 3 1 0 High Jump 0 1 0 Olympic Games Gold 2016 Rio de Janeiro Heptathlon Gold 2020 Tokyo Heptathlon Gold 2024 Paris Heptathlon World Championships Gold 2017 London Heptathlon Gold 2022 Eugene Heptathlon Silver 2019 Doha Heptathlon European Championships Gold 2018 Berlin Heptathlon Gold 2022 Munich Heptathlon Gold 2024 Rome Heptathlon Bronze 2014 Zürich Heptathlon European Indoor Championships Gold 2017 Belgrade Pentathlon Gold 2021 Torun Pentathlon Gold 2023 Istanbul Pentathlon Silver 2015 Prague Pentathlon European U23 Championships Silver 2015 Tallinn High Jump European Junior Championships Gold 2013 Rieti Heptathlon

Nafissatou "Nafi" Thiam (born August 19, 1994) is a Belgian athlete. She is famous for competing in "multi-event" sports like the heptathlon and pentathlon. These events combine several different track and field challenges.

Nafi Thiam made history by becoming the first athlete to win three gold medals in multi-events at the Olympic Games. She won the heptathlon at the 2016 Rio, 2020 Tokyo, and 2024 Paris Olympics. Winning three Olympic golds in a row is a rare achievement for a woman in athletics. She is also the only Belgian athlete to successfully defend an Olympic title.

She has also won gold medals at the World Championships in 2017 and 2022. She earned gold at the European Championships in 2018, 2022, and 2024. In 2019, she won a silver medal at the World Championships. In 2017, she was named the World Female Athlete of the Year. She was also a flag bearer for Belgium at the opening ceremony of the 2020 Tokyo Olympics.

In May 2017, Nafi Thiam became only the fourth woman ever to score over 7000 points in the heptathlon. In March 2023, she set a new world record in the pentathlon with 5055 points. This happened at the European Indoor Championships, where she won her third pentathlon title. This made her the first Belgian woman to set an official athletics world record.

As of March 2023, Thiam holds the Belgian records in the heptathlon and pentathlon. She also holds the Belgian records for the javelin and long jump (both indoors and outdoors). In 2019, she set a world record for the high jump event within the heptathlon competition.

Nafi Thiam's Athletics Journey

Early Career and Junior Success

Thiam at the 2013 European Junior Championships in Rieti, Italy

Nafissatou Thiam was born in Brussels, Belgium. Her mother is Belgian, and her father is Senegalese. She started athletics at age seven and quickly showed talent in the heptathlon. By 2009, she was already winning national titles for her age group. Her favorite athlete growing up was Swedish heptathlete Carolina Klüft.

In 2011, Thiam placed fourth in the heptathlon at the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics in France. The next year, she finished 14th at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics.

In February 2013, Thiam broke the junior world indoor record in the pentathlon. She scored 4558 points, beating the previous record held by Olympic champion Carolina Klüft since 2002. This made her the first Belgian female athlete to break a world record. However, this record was not officially approved because the anti-doping test was done a day too late.

Later in 2013, she won a gold medal in the heptathlon at the European Junior Championships in Italy. She set a new Belgian record with 6298 points.

Becoming a Senior Champion

In 2014, Thiam won a bronze medal in the heptathlon at the European Athletics Championships in Switzerland.

The next year, 2015, she earned a silver medal in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Prague. She also won a silver medal in the high jump at the European Under-23 Championships in Estonia.

Nafi Thiam at the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade, Serbia

On August 13, 2016, Thiam won her first gold medal in the heptathlon at the Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro. She scored 6810 points, setting personal bests in five of the seven events. She beat the reigning Olympic champion, Jessica Ennis-Hill. At just 21 years old, she became the youngest Olympic heptathlon gold medalist ever. She was chosen to be the Belgian flag bearer at the Olympic closing ceremony.

In March 2017, Thiam won the pentathlon at the 2017 European Indoor Championships in Belgrade with 4870 points.

In May 2017, at a competition in Austria, she scored 7013 points in the heptathlon. This made her only the fourth woman to ever score over 7000 points. Her javelin throw of 59.32m in this competition also broke the Belgian record for the individual event.

On August 6, 2017, Thiam won the heptathlon world title at the World Championships in London. She was the first Belgian athlete to win a World Athletics Championship gold medal.

Nafi at the 2018 Hypo-Meeting in Götzis, Austria

In August 2018, she won the gold medal at the European Athletics Championships. This made her one of only three women to win Olympic, World, and European Championships in the heptathlon.

In June 2019, Thiam set a women's heptathlon high jump world record of 2.02 meters at a meeting in France.

At the World Championships in October 2019, Thiam was a favorite to win. However, an elbow injury affected her javelin throw. She still managed to win the silver medal.

In March 2021, she won the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Poland with 4904 points.

In August 2021, at the 2020 Tokyo Games, she successfully defended her Olympic title, scoring 6791 points.

Thiam jumps over the bar at the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon

At the 2022 World Athletics Championships in Eugene, Oregon, Thiam won her second world gold medal in July with 6947 points.

In March 2023, at the European Indoor Championships in Istanbul, she broke the pentathlon world record. She scored 5055 points, beating the previous record set in 2012. With this third European indoor title, Thiam became the most successful female pentathlete in the history of these championships. Due to an injury, she could not defend her World Championships title later that year.

At the 2024 Paris Olympic Games, Thiam once again won the Olympic heptathlon title. She finished 40 points ahead of her rival, Katarina Johnson-Thompson. This made her the first athlete to win three Olympic gold medals in heptathlon in a row.

Training and Personal Life

Thiam is a member of RFCL Athlétisme, an athletics club in Belgium. She was coached by former decathlete Roger Lespagnard for 14 years, but they stopped working together in October 2022.

Besides being a professional athlete, Thiam studied geography at the University of Liège. She enjoys learning about climate and how the Earth is shaped. She graduated with a bachelor's degree in September 2019.

Thiam is also a UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador for UNICEF Belgium, helping children around the world.

Achievements

Thiam with javelin at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin

Nafi Thiam lands a long jump at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul

Thiam after setting a pentathlon world record with a score of 5055 points at the 2023 European Indoor Championships in Istanbul

Here are some of Nafissatou Thiam's top achievements in international competitions:

Representing  Belgium

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Result	Notes
2011	World Youth Championships	Villeneuve-d'Ascq, France	4th	Heptathlon	5366 pts
	European Youth Olympic Festival	Trabzon, Turkey	9th (q2)	Long jump	5.50 m
			11th	Javelin throw	40.62 m (45.60 q)
2012	World Junior Championships	Barcelona, Spain	14th	Heptathlon	5384 pts
2013	European Indoor Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	6th	Pentathlon	4493 pts
	European Team Championships First League	Dublin, Ireland	1st	High jump	1.89 m
			12th	Javelin throw	40.72 m
	European Junior Championships	Rieti, Italy	1st	Heptathlon	6298 pts	NR
	World Championships	Moscow, Russia	14th	Heptathlon	6070 pts
	Jeux de la Francophonie	Nice, France	4th	High jump	1.83 m
2014	World Indoor Championships	Sopot, Poland	8th	High jump	1.90 m
	European Championships	Zürich, Switzerland	3rd	Heptathlon	6423 pts
2015	European Indoor Championships	Prague, Czech Republic	2nd	Pentathlon	4696 pts	PB
	European U23 Championships	Tallinn, Estonia	2nd	High jump	1.87 m
	World Championships	Beijing, China	11th	Heptathlon	6298 pts
2016	European Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	4th	High jump	1.93 m
	Olympic Games	Rio de Janeiro, Brazil	–	High jump	DNS
			1st	Heptathlon	6810 pts	WL NR
2017	European Indoor Championships	Belgrade, Serbia	1st	Pentathlon	4870 pts	WL
	World Championships	London, United Kingdom	1st	Heptathlon	6784 pts
2018	European Championships	Berlin, Germany	1st	Heptathlon	6816 pts	WL
2019	World Championships	Doha, Qatar	2nd	Heptathlon	6677 pts
2021	European Indoor Championships	Toruń, Poland	1st	Pentathlon	4904 pts	WL NR
	Olympic Games	Tokyo, Japan	1st	Heptathlon	6791 pts	SB
2022	World Championships	Eugene, United States	1st	Heptathlon	6947 pts	WL
	European Championships	Munich, Germany	1st	Heptathlon	6628 pts
2023	European Indoor Championships	Istanbul, Turkey	1st	Pentathlon	5055 pts	WR
2024	European Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	Heptathlon	6848 pts	CHB
	Olympic Games	Paris, France	1st	Heptathlon	6880 pts	SB

Circuit Wins

Nafi Thiam has won several major circuit competitions:

• Hypo-Meeting: 2017, 2018
• Décastar: 2019
• Diamond League
  • 2016: Brussels Memorial Van Damme (High jump)
  • 2018: Brussels (High jump)
  • 2019: Birmingham Grand Prix (Long jump, Belgian Record)

Personal Best Scores

These are Nafissatou Thiam's best performances in different events:

National Titles

Nafi Thiam has won many national championships in Belgium:

• Belgian Athletics Championships
  • Long jump: 2015, 2018, 2022
• Belgian Indoor Athletics Championships
  • 60 m hurdles: 2017
  • High jump: 2015, 2017
  • Long jump: 2016
  • Pentathlon: 2016

Awards and Recognition

Nafi Thiam has received many honors and awards for her amazing athletic career:

• R.F.C.L. Trophy Promising talent: 2010
• Golden Spike best female talent: 2012
• Golden Spike award: 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2022, 2024
• Belgian Promising Talent of the Year: 2013
• Belgian Sportswoman of the Year: 2014, 2016, 2017, 2022, 2024
• Knight in the Walloon Order of Merit [fr]: 2014
• European Athletics women's Rising Star of the Year: 2016
• IAAF Female Rising Star of the Year: 2016
• Belgian Sports Merit Award: 2016
• Commander in the Walloon Order of Merit: 2016
• Forbes 30 under 30 for Europe: 2017
• IAAF World Female Athlete of the Year: 2017
• Grand Officer in the Order of Leopold: 2023

In 2017, Thiam also became an official UNICEF Ambassador.

See also

In Spanish: Nafissatou Thiam para niños