Letitia Alma Vriesde (born 5 October 1964) is a female former track and field athlete from

Suriname Suriname (; srn, Sranankondre or ), officially the Republic of Suriname ( nl, Republiek Suriname , srn, Ripolik fu Sranan), is a country on the northeastern Atlantic coast of South America. It is bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the nor ...

, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 1500 metres. She is the first (and to date, only) sportsperson from Suriname to compete at five Olympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. Vriesde holds the South American records for the 800 metres, 1000 metres and 1500 metres (indoors and outdoors) and also for the 3000 metres (indoors).

Career

Vriesde started running in Suriname, coached by Luiz de Oliveira. She left Suriname after failing to be selected for the 1984 Olympics to train in the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. In the Netherlands, Vriesde competed for Atletiekvereniging Rotterdam. She competed in the

800 metres The 800 metres, or meters ( US spelling), is a common track running event. It is the shortest commonly run middle-distance running event. The 800 metres is run over two laps of an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since th ...

at the

1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

, and broke into the highest echelons of the sport in 1991, when she reached the finals of both the 800 and 1500 metres at the

IAAF World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the O ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.46 ...

, finishing in fifth and ninth places respectively. At the

1992 Summer Olympics The 1992 Summer Olympics ( es, Juegos Olímpicos de Verano de 1992, ca, Jocs Olímpics d'estiu de 1992), officially known as the Games of the XXV Olympiad ( es, Juegos de la XXV Olimpiada, ca, Jocs de la XXV Olimpíada) and commonly known as ...

Vriesde set a record of sorts by recording the fastest ever non-qualifying time (1:58.28) in an 800 metres semi-final. Vriesde won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake stri ...

, before going on to win a silver medal at the

1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nat ...

behind Cuba's Ana Quirot. At both competitions, she became the first South American female athlete to win a medal. A year later, she missed the finals at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, running a nearly identical time to her 1992 Olympic performance (1:58.29), again placing fifth in her semifinal. Vriesde won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the

2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at Commonwealth Stadium in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event ...

behind Mozambique's Maria Mutola and Austria's

Stephanie Graf Stephanie Graf (born 26 April 1973, in Klagenfurt) is an Austrian former middle distance runner who won silver medals in the 800 metres at both the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships. In June 2010 Graf was su ...

. Throughout her career, Vriesde also won many medals at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is hel ...

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

and South American Games. Vriesde was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal at the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. ...

after testing positive for excessive caffeine levels. She was said to have the equivalent of five gallons of coffee in her system. She was not banned however and went on to compete at that year's World Championships. Drinking too much coffee or taking a common cold tablet would no longer get athletes disqualified after a new global list of banned substances was drawn up by the World Anti-Doping Agency and applied from 1 January 2004. Vriesde retired soon after competing at her seventh World Championships in 2005. In Paramaribo a street formerly known as ''Cultuurtuinlaan'' was changed into ''Letitia Vriesdelaan''. The Surinamese Government also gave her a piece of land in appreciation of her achievements.

Personal life

Vriesde married Bas van Veen on 9 September 2005 in Middelburg, Holland. Her daughter Joi Vienna was born on 19 March 2007.

Personal bests

*400 m 52.01 (1997) *800 m 1:56.68 (1995) *1000 m 2:32.25 (1991) *1500 m 4:05.67 (1991) *Mile 4:30.45 (1992) *3000 m 9:15.64 (1991) As of 2017, Vriesde's 800m best of 1:56.68 ranks her 58th on the World all-time list.

Vriesde’s Top 10 800m performances

* 1:56.68 AR 2 WCh Gothenburg 13.08.95 * * * 1:57.07 3rA WK Zürich 16.08.95 * * * 1:57.09 3 Her Monte Carlo 10.08.96 * * * 1:57.16 4= GPF Monte Carlo 09.09.95 * * * 1:57.35 3 WCh Edmonton 12.08.01 * * * 1:57.86 4 Her Monte Carlo 16.08.97 * * * 1:57.96 AR 5 APM Hengelo 28.06.92 * * * 1:57.98 2 Nikaïa Nice 16.07.97 * * * 1:58.11 2 ISTAF Berlin 01.09.95 * * * 1:58.12 4 WCh Athens 09.08.97

World Rankings

Women's 800m * 1990 #26 * 1991 #9 * 1992 #9 * 1993 #38 * 1994 #72 * 1995 #4 * 1996 #8 * 1997 #4 * 1998 #7 * 1999 #9 * 2000 #14 * 2001 #4 * 2002 #31 * 2003 #44 * 2004 #63 Women's 1500 * 1990 #83 * 1991 #17 Women's 400m *1997 #54

Olympic Games glossary

800 metres Event History

*1988 Seoul Round One Heat 4 4th 2:01.83 *1988 Seoul Semi-Finals Heat 2 8th 2:02.34 *1992 Barcelona Round One Heat 3 2nd 1:59.93 *1992 Barcelona Semi-Finals Heat 1 5th 1:58.28 *1996 Atlanta Round One Heat 1 2nd 1:59.71 *1996 Atlanta Semi-Finals Heat 2 5th 1:58.29 *2000 Sydney Round One Heat 2 4th 2:02.09 *2004 Athens Round One Heat 3 4th 2:01.70 *2004 Athens Semi-Finals Heat 3 8th 2:06.95

1500 metres Event History

*1988 Seoul Round One Heat 2 12th 4:19.58 *1992 Barcelona Round One Heat 2 5th 4:10.63 *1992 Barcelona Semi-Finals Heat 1 8th 4:09.64

Competition record

¹Representing the Americas

References

External links