Churandy Martina

Churandy Martina
Martina at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki
Personal information
NationalityDutch
Born (1984-07-03) 3 July 1984 (age 40)
Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight74 kg (163 lb)
Sport
CountryNetherlands
SportAthletics
Event(s)100 metres, 200 metres
Achievements and titles
Personal bests
Medal record
Men's athletics
Representing the  Netherlands Antilles
Pan American Games
Gold medal – first place 2007 Rio de Janeiro 100 m
Central American and Caribbean Games
Gold medal – first place 2006 Cartagena 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2006 Cartagena 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 2010 Mayaguez 100 m
Gold medal – first place 2010 Mayaguez 200 m
Bronze medal – third place 2010 Mayaguez 4×100 m relay
South American Games
Gold medal – first place 2002 Belém 100 m
Silver medal – second place 2002 Belém 200 m
IAAF Continental Cup
Silver medal – second place 2010 Split 200 m
Pan American Junior Championships
Gold medal – first place 2003 Bridgetown 100 m
CARIFTA Games (U20)
Silver medal – second place 2003 Port of Spain 100 m
CARIFTA Games (U17)
Silver medal – second place 2000 St. George's 100 m
Silver medal – second place 2000 St. George's 200 m
Representing  Netherlands
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 2012 Helsinki 200 m
Gold medal – first place 2012 Helsinki 4×100 m relay
Gold medal – first place 2016 Amsterdam 100 m
Bronze medal – third place 2018 Berlin 4×100 m relay

Churandy Thomas Martina (born 3 July 1984) is a Dutch sprinter. He originally placed second in the 200 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but was later disqualified due to a lane violation. Martina secured four and two individual top-five finishes at the Summer Olympics and World Athletics Championships respectively. He was the 100 metres 2007 Pan American Games champion representing the Netherlands Antilles and claimed three individual titles at the Central American and Caribbean Games. He won gold medals in the 200 m and 100 m at the 2012 and 2016 European Athletics Championships respectively.

Martina is the Dutch national record holder for the 60, 100, 200 and 400 metres. His 100 m 9.91-second record was set at the 2012 London Olympics semi-final and 200 m 19.81-second record was achieved at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2016. He won 13 Dutch national titles. Martina hails from Curaçao and represented the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution in 2010.

Career

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Born in Willemstad, Curaçao, Martina began his international career at the youth level, reaching the 100 metres semifinals of the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics. Moving up to the junior level, he ran at the World Junior Championships in Athletics in 2000 and 2002, although he was less successful at that level. His first gold came in the 100 m at the 2002 South American Games in Belém, Brazil.[1] He improved his personal best to 10.29 seconds in 2003,[2] and represented the Netherlands Antilles at the 2003 CAC Championships (setting a personal best in the heats), and also competed at the 2003 Pan American Games (reaching the semis). He made his first appearance on the world stage at the 2003 World Championships in Athletics, although he was eliminated in the heats of the 100 metres.[3]

He made his first Olympic appearance as one of three competitors representing the Netherlands Antilles at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He bore their flag in the opening ceremony. The 2004 season also saw much improvement in his times as he knocked 0.16 off his previous year's personal record with a 10.13-second run in Santo Domingo.[2] Martina won the 100 m bronze medal at the 2005 Central American and Caribbean Championships and also anchored the Netherlands Antilles team to a national record time in the 4×100 metres relay to win a silver medal.[4][5] He led the team to the final at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and improved the national record further to 38.45 seconds for sixth place.[6] He competed in the individual 100 m but was knocked out in the second round.[2]

Martina took fifth place twice at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka.

The following year he ran a Games record to win the 100 m gold medal at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC Games).[7] He also led the relay team to victory for his second gold medal of the tournament. He improved his personal best to 10.04 seconds that year with a run in El Paso, Texas.[2] He had success at continental level in July 2007 when he won the gold medal at the 2007 Pan American Games in the 100 metres, having already run a Games record-equalling time in the qualifiers.[8] He finished fifth in the finals of both the 100 m and 200 m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He ended the year with a sixth-place finish in the 100 m at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final.[2]

2008 Summer Olympics

[edit]

He bore the national flag for the second consecutive time at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. In the second round of heats he set a new national record in the 100 m, running below ten seconds for the first time in his career with a time of 9.99 s. In the semi-finals he finished third in his race behind Asafa Powell and Richard Thompson, but improved the national record to 9.94 s. He qualified for the final in which he came close to the medals, finishing in fourth place behind Usain Bolt, Thompson and Walter Dix. Whilst he left the final without a medal, he had cause for celebration as he broke the national record for a third time, finishing in 9.93 s.[9]

On 20 August 2008, he originally placed second in the 200 m at the Olympics, finishing behind Usain Bolt with a time of 19.82 s. This would have been both a national record and the second-ever Olympic medal for the Netherlands Antilles after Jan Boersma's silver in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. However he was disqualified an hour after the race for a lane violation. American Wallace Spearmon, who had initially placed third, was disqualified moments after the race for having stepped on his inside lane line during the race. The American coaches appealed the decision and upon viewing footage of Spearmon's offence they noticed that Martina had committed the same infraction. They dropped their appeal for Spearmon in favour of a successful protest against Martina. As a result of the disqualifications, Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix, both of the United States, were promoted to silver and bronze respectively.[10]

However, on 24 August, the Netherlands Antilles filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate Martina's medal, arguing that the American protest came after the 30-minute deadline for protests and appeals set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and also that they had their own video footage (not the official Olympic video footage) showing that Martina never left his lane.[10] On 6 March 2009, the CAS rejected the appeal against Martina's disqualification.[11] Shawn Crawford, who had been awarded the Olympic silver medal, reportedly gave his medal to Martina on 28 August 2008.[12]

At the start of the 2009 outdoor season, Martina set a world-leading time of 9.97 seconds in the 100 m at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games; the fourth time he had finished with a sub-ten-second time.[13] He could not build upon his Olympic success at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and only reached the quarter-finals of the men's 100 m. He was sixth at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final—the competition's final edition. He defended his regional title at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, holding off a challenge from Daniel Bailey to win in 10.07 seconds—just one hundredth off his championship record.[14]

Since 2011, Churandy Martina has represented Netherlands. Pictured (R) at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics held in Daegu.

After the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, Martina has represented the Netherlands in 2011 World Championships and 2012 European Championships, where he won gold in 200 metres and 4x100 metre relay.

2012 Summer Olympics

[edit]

Martina competed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, again in his three disciplines, the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4x100 metre relay. Only narrowly making it through to the 100-metre semi-final, Martina improved his personal best in the semi-final to 9.91. This race was also the fastest ever semi-final run, with Justin Gatlin running 9.82. In the final, Martina placed sixth behind Usain Bolt, posting 9.94. Martina then competed in the 200 m, where he finished in fifth, again behind Bolt, in 20 seconds flat. In the relay, the Netherlands finished sixth in a time of 38.39. However, after the Olympics, Martina broke the 200 m national record in Lausanne, lowering the time to 19.85, ending his reasonably successful season.

In 2016, Martina won the European Championships 100 metres before a home crowd. The following day, he crossed the line in first place in the 200 metres, but was denied the sprint double because he crossed inside of his lane line again, giving the win to Bruno Hortelano.

Achievements

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Martina (L) passes the baton to Jerrel Feller (R) at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

All information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.[2]

Personal bests

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Event Time (s) Venue Date Notes
30 metres indoor 3.81 Leeuwarden, Netherlands 14 November 2008 World best
60 metres indoor 6.58 Stuttgart, Germany 6 February 2010 NR
100 metres 9.91 London, United Kingdom 5 August 2012 NR
200 metres 19.81 Lausanne, Switzerland 25 August 2016 NR
400 metres 46.13 El Paso, TX, United States 31 March 2007 NR
  • Note: Martina's fastest 100 metres time is 9.76 seconds with 6.1 m/s wind. However, the wind assisted run, set in El Paso, Texas on 13 May 2006, exceeds the World Athletics' legal limit of 2.0 m/s and cannot qualify as a record.[15]

International competitions

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Time Notes
Representing  Netherlands Antilles (until 2010)
2000 CARIFTA Games St. George's, Grenada, Grenada 2nd 100 m 10.73 (+1.5 m/s)
2nd 200 m 21.73 (+1.7 m/s)
World Junior Championships Santiago, Chile 36th (h) 100 m 10.77 (+0.8 m/s)
DSQ 200 m DQ
2002 World Junior Championships Kingston, Jamaica 19th (qf) 100 m 10.52 w (+2.6 m/s)
South American Games Belém, Brazil 1st 100 m 10.42 (+0.8 m/s)
2nd 200 m 20.81 (+1.1 m/s)
Central American and Caribbean Games San Salvador, El Salvador 8th 100 m 10.55 w (+2.1 m/s)
8th 200 m 21.89 (-0.4 m/s)
6th 4 × 100 m relay 42.14
2003 CARIFTA Games Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago 2nd 100 m 10.37 w (+3.8 m/s)
World Championships Paris, France 5th (h) 100 m 10.35 (-0.6 m/s)
2004 South American U23 Championships Barquisimeto, Venezuela 1st[16] 4 × 100 m relay 39.18
NACAC U-23 Championships Sherbrooke, Canada 1st 100 m 10.21 (+0.1 m/s)
2nd 200 m 20.75 (+0.0 m/s)
Olympic Olympics Athens, Greece 7th (qf) 100 m 10.48 (0.0 m/s)
2005 World Championships Helsinki, Finland 6th (qf) 100 m 10.24 (-1.2 m/s)
6th 4 x 100 m relay 38.45
CAC Championships Nassau, Bahamas 3rd 100 m 10.10 (+1.9 m/s)
2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Cartagena, Colombia 1st 100 m 10.06 s (+0.6 m/s) CR
1st 4 x 100 m relay 39.29
2007 Pan American Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 100 m 10.15 (+1.0 m/s)
World Championships Osaka, Japan 5th 100 m 10.08 (-0.5 m/s)
5th 200 m 20.28 (-0.8 m/s)
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 4th 100 m 9.93 (+0.0 m/s)
DSQ 200 m DQ
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 4th (qf) 100 m 10.19 (+0.1 m/s)
2010 World Indoor Championships Doha, Qatar 8th (sf) 60 m 6.65
Central American and Caribbean Games Mayagüez, Puerto Rico 1st 100 m 10.07 (+0.7 m/s)
1st 200 m 20.25 (+0.0 m/s)
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 38.82
2010 2010 IAAF Continental Cup Split, Croatia 2nd 200 m 20.47
Representing  Netherlands (since 2011)
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 18th (sf) 100 m 10.29 (-0.8 m/s)
– (sf) 200 m DNS
2012 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 1st 200 m 20.42 (-0.9 m/s)
1st 4 × 100 m relay 38.34
Olympic Games London, United Kingdom 6th 100 m 9.94 (+1.5 m/s)
5th 200 m 20.00 (+0.4 m/s)
6th 4 × 100 m relay 38.39
2014 European Championships Zurich, Switzerland 9th (sf) 100 m 10.34 (+0.6 m/s)
4th 200 m 20.37 (-1.6 m/s)
5th 4 × 100 m relay 38.60
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 16th (sf) 100 m 10.09 (-0.4 m/s)
10th (sf) 200 m 20.20 (+0.4 m/s)
2016 World Indoor Championships Portland, OR, United States 22nd (h) 60 m 6.67
European Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 1st 100 m 10.07 (0.0 m/s)
DSQ 200 m 20.37 (-0.9 m/s)
4th 4 × 100 m relay 38.57
Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 26th (h) 100 m 10.22 (-0.5 m/s)
5th 200 m 20.13 (-0.5 m/s)
2017 World Relays Nassau, Bahamas 4th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.71 [note 1]
2018 European Championships Berlin, Germany 6th 100 m 10.16 (0.0 m/s)
10th (sf) 200 m 20.51 (+0.3 m/s)
3rd 4 × 100 m relay 38.03
2019 World Relays Yokohama, Japan 10th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.67
World Championships Doha, Qatar 7th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 37.91 [note 2]
2021 World Relays Chorzów, Poland 5th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.79
Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan – 4 × 100 m relay DNF

Circuit wins, National titles

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Notes

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  1. ^ Did not finish in the final.
  2. ^ Disqualified in the final.

References

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  1. ^ South American Games. GBR Athletics. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  2. ^ a b c d e f "Churandy MARTINA – Athlete Profile". World Athletics. Retrieved 1 January 2023.
  3. ^ 2003 World Championships 100 metres heats Archived 16 September 2009 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF (24 August 2003). Retrieved 2 October 2009.
  4. ^ Finisterre, Terry (11 July 2005). Meet record continue to tumble – CAC Championships, Day Two. IAAF. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  5. ^ Finisterre, Terry (10 July 2005)A storm of top action in front of packed crowds - CAC Championships, Day One. IAAF. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  6. ^ 2005 World Championships 4x100 Metres Relay - M Final Archived 21 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine. IAAF. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  7. ^ Clavelo Robinson, Javier (27 July 2006). Robles and Martina break Games records - CAC Games Day Two. IAAF. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  8. ^ Biscayart, Eduardo (25 July 2007). Barber takes 100m title with 11.02 – Pan American Games, Day 3. IAAF. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  9. ^ "Athlete Biography: MARTINA Churandy". Beijing2008.cn. The Beijing Organizing Committee for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Archived from the original on 20 August 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  10. ^ a b "US men's sprint medal jeopardized by protest". International Herald Tribune. Associated Press. 24 August 2008. Archived from the original on 13 September 2008. Retrieved 26 August 2008.
  11. ^ Martina's bid to reclaim silver rejected, ESPN.com, 6 March 2009.
  12. ^ "Martina gets silver lining in 200m". 2 December 2008. Retrieved 14 February 2008.[dead link]
  13. ^ Van Hemert, Wim (1 June 2009). Four world leads in Hengelo – IAAF World Athletics Tour. IAAF. Retrieved 2 June 2009.
  14. ^ Clavelo Robinson, Javier (26 July 2010). Martina defends 100m title, Brathwaite dominates the sprint hurdles in Mayaguez – CAC Games, days 1 and 2. IAAF. Retrieved 27 July 2010.
  15. ^ Burns, Bob (5 June 2006). "Stars aligned for stellar meet". NCAA. Retrieved 3 November 2008.[permanent dead link]
  16. ^ Guest final out of competition
[edit]
Wikimedia Commons has media related to Churandy Martina.
Awards
Preceded by Men's Dutch Athlete of the Year
2012
2016 		Succeeded by
Preceded by Succeeded by
Olympic Games
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Netherlands Antilles
Athens 2004
Beijing 2008 		Netherlands Antilles withdrew from IOC in 2011
Preceded by Flagbearer for  Netherlands
Tokyo 2020
With: Keet Oldenbeuving 		Most recent
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