Lurdes Mutola

Overwhelming as an athlete on the track, Lurdes Mutola now intends to show herself a different kind of leader, as president of the Mozambican Athletics Federation. After Clarisse Machanguana ran for president of the Mozambican Basketball Federation and lost to Roque Sebastião, now it’s the turn of ‘Golden Girl’ Lurdes Mutola to have a go at the Athletics Federation. Mutola confirmed her candidacy to the Secretary of State for Sports, Carlos Gilberto Mendes, in a meeting held on Monday.

“I know you don’t vote, but I’m here at the State Secretariat to say that I want to run,” the former 800-meter said runner, cited by the newspaper Notícias. “I am, yes, a candidate, and I want to help our athletics.” Mutola’s confirmation brings the number of candidates expressing an interest in occupying Francisco Manheche’s current position to two. The body’s former secretary general, Kamal Badrú, was the first to express his intention and is already on the campaign trail, visiting provincial associations to outline his project.There are only three months left before the elections, a period on which Mutola will want to capitalise, promoting her manifesto.“It will be a period to work on the constitution of the governing team, clear organization of the manifesto and contact with provincial associations to show our intentions so that together we can change things in our country’s athletics,” Mutola said, quoted by Notícias.

Affectionately known as the “A Menina de Ouro” [“The Golden Girl”], Maria de Lurdes Mutola was one of the world’s greatest 800-metre runners, having made history at the 1996 Atlanta Olympic Games.For the first time in five participations, the Mozambican flag was raised. After a third place in the United States of America, Mutola improved even more and the national anthem sounded again in Sydney 2000. Mutola, who was born in the then city of Lourenço Marques, now Maputo, on 27 October 1972, has an impressive curriculum vitae. Specialising in the 800 metres, she has three outdoor and seven indoor world titles, and a total of 14 medals.

But it was at the Atlanta Olympic Games that Mutola became a true legend of Mozambican athletics and sports. When she arrived in Georgia, she was already making waves, having won the world title in Stuttgart 1993 (outdoors), and in Toronto 1993 and Barcelona 1995 (indoors). Living in the United States since 1988, where she began training with ever more determination, Mutola built on her accomplishment to shine in the 1996 Olympic Games. It was her third participation, having finished fifth in the 800 metres in Barcelona 1992 and ninth in the 1500 metres.

Atlanta was the specialisation edition. She concentrated on the 800 meters and won the much-desired medal. She failed to beat Russian champion Svetlana Masterkova, and Cuban Ana Fidelia Quirot, but finished third, with a tenth of a second advantage over Briton Kelly Holmes.Four years later, the euphoria was even greater. At 27, and in one of the best phases of her career, Mutola crossed the line in first position, with a maximum of the season and practically half a second ahead of Stephanie Graf from Austria.Maria de Lurdes Mutola had a bitter goodbye in Athens in 2004. In a season beset with injuries, she came close to retaining her Olympic title and led until the last straight, when she was overtaken by three opponents, finishing in fourth place, eight hundredths of a second too slow for the podium. To this day, Maria Mutola’s medals remain the only ones ever won in Mozambique’s Olympic history.