Niki Xanthou ( el, Νίκη Ξάνθου, , born 11 October 1973 in

Rhodes Rhodes (; el, Ρόδος , translit=Ródos ) is the largest and the historical capital of the Dodecanese islands of Greece. Administratively, the island forms a separate municipality within the Rhodes regional unit, which is part of the S ...

) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: Greece Anything of, from, or related to Greece, a country in Southern Europe: *Greeks, an ethnic group. *Greek language, a branch of the Indo-European language family. **Proto-Greek language, the assumed last common ancestor ...

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a ...

er. Xanthou set nine national records in long jump during her career. Her personal best, and national record, is 7.03 metres, achieved in August 1997 in

Bellinzona Bellinzona ( , , Ticinese ; french: Bellinzone ; german: Bellenz ; rm, Blizuna )is a municipality, a historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its three castles (Castelgrande, Montebell ...

. At the age of 22 she gave an impressive performance in the Olympic games final in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

, in which she took the 4th place with 6.97 m. She won the Mediterranean Games of 1997 in Bari and the European under 23 Cup in 1994. The greatest achievements in her career were the second place in the 1997

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

and the gold medal in 2002 European Indoor Championships in Vienna.

Honours

References

* 1973 births Living people Greek female long jumpers Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Greece World Athletics Championships medalists People from Rhodes Goodwill Games medalists in athletics Mediterranean Games gold medalists for Greece Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Competitors at the 1998 Goodwill Games Sportspeople from the South Aegean {{Greece-athletics-bio-stub