Gretta Taslakian (born 16 August 1985) is a Lebanese sprinter of

Armenian Armenian may refer to: * Something of, from, or related to Armenia, a country in the South Caucasus region of Eurasia * Armenians, the national people of Armenia, or people of Armenian descent ** Armenian diaspora, Armenian communities around the ...

and

Syrian Syrians () are the majority inhabitants of Syria, indigenous to the Levant, most of whom have Arabic, especially its Levantine and Mesopotamian dialects, as a mother tongue. The cultural and linguistic heritage of the Syrian people is a blend ...

descent who specializes in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and 400 meters . She is the first Lebanese woman to participate in three

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

. Gretta is the current Lebanese national record holder in the outdoor 200 meters and 400 meters and indoor 400 meters. She was also a member of the record holding team in the outdoor 4x100 meter relay and 4x400 meter relay.

Biography

She was born in Ghadir,

Lebanon Lebanon, officially the Republic of Lebanon, is a country in the Levant region of West Asia. Situated at the crossroads of the Mediterranean Basin and the Arabian Peninsula, it is bordered by Syria to the north and east, Israel to the south ...

, to Syrian-Armenian father and Lebanese mother. Gretta came in second place at the 11th Asian Junior Athletic Championships in the 200 metres. She competed at the 2001 World Championships, the 2003 World Indoor Championships and the 2004 World Indoor Championships, where she set the indoor 200 meter Lebanese national record at 25.80. She set a new national record in the women's 200 metres at the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

, but came in last in her preliminary heat and did not advance.Gretta Taslakian
World Athletics. Retrieved 2023-08-25. She competed at the 2006 Asian Games in the 200 meters but was eliminated in the first heat. Taslakian won two gold medals for Lebanon in the 2007 Pan Arab Games in

Cairo Cairo ( ; , ) is the Capital city, capital and largest city of Egypt and the Cairo Governorate, being home to more than 10 million people. It is also part of the List of urban agglomerations in Africa, largest urban agglomeration in Africa, L ...

Egypt Egypt ( , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a country spanning the Northeast Africa, northeast corner of Africa and Western Asia, southwest corner of Asia via the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediterranean Sea to northe ...

and achieved her personal best in the 200 metres is 23.56 seconds in the final of the 200 meters in November. She also competed at the 2007 World Championships without success. She competed in the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

representing

. At the first round of the

, Gretta came in last in her heat as she ran in a time of 25.32 seconds, which was her season best, but not enough to qualify to the next round. She came in eighth place at the 2010 Asian Indoor Athletics Championships in the 60 meters. She also came in fourth place at the

2010 Asian Games The 2010 Asian Games (), officially known as the XVI Asian Games () and also known as Guangzhou 2010 (), were a regional multi-sport event held from November 12 to 27, 2010 in Guangzhou, Guangdong, China (although several events commenced ear ...

in 200 meters and set a new national record in the 100 meters at 11.84.{ She also competed at the 2011 Pan Arab Games, winning a silver medal in the 100 metres and a gold medal in the 200 metres. Taslakian won a silver medal in the 200 metres at the 2011 Asian Athletics Championships. At the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, she again came in last in her heat and did not qualify from her heat.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Taslakian, Gretta 1985 births Living people Lebanese female sprinters Olympic female sprinters Olympic athletes for Lebanon Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Asian Games competitors for Lebanon Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Asian Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Asian Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Lebanon Lebanese people of Armenian descent Lebanese people of Syrian descent Arab Games gold medalists Arab Games silver medalists Arab Athletics Championships winners West Asian Athletics Championships winners Asian Athletics Championships medalists