Jéssica de Barros Augusto, (born 8 November 1981) is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country,

road running Road running is the sport of running on a measured course over an established road. This differs from track and field on a regular track and cross country running over natural terrain. These events are usually classified as long-distance ru ...

and in middle-distance and

long-distance track event Long-distance running, or endurance running, is a form of continuous running over distances of at least . Physiologically, it is largely Aerobic exercise, aerobic in nature and requires stamina as well as mental strength. Within endurance ru ...

s. At club level, she represents

Sporting CP Sporting Clube de Portugal (), otherwise referred to as Sporting CP or simply Sporting (particularly within Portugal), or as Sporting Lisbon in other countries,

. Augusto has enjoyed much success at the European Cross Country Championships. She won the event in 2010, was the runner-up in 2008, and shared in the team gold on three occasions. She was the first European-born runner to finish at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, although she was 21st overall. She has represented Portugal in three

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

and at the

2008 Beijing 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 ...

and the

2012 London 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 has won medals on the track at minor championships, including golds at the

2007 Summer Universiade The 2007 Summer Universiade officially known as the XXIV Summer Universiade and commonly known as Bangkok Universiade, was an international multi-sport for university athletes that took place from 8 to 18 August 2007 in Bangkok, Thailand, with pr ...

and 2009 Lusophony Games. In road running, her greatest achievement is a win at the 2009

Great North Run The Great North Run (branded the AJ Bell Great North Run for sponsorship purposes) is the largest half marathon in the world, taking place annually in North East England each September. Participants run between Newcastle upon Tyne and South Shie ...

, where she set a

half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

best of 1:09:08. She has also won at the Cursa Bombers, and finished second at both the São Silvestre de Lisboa and

Great South Run The Great South Run is an annual 10 mile (16.09 km) road running race which takes place in Portsmouth, United Kingdom providing an intermediate distance between the ten kilometre and the half marathon (21.097 km) runs. Launched in 199 ...

Career

Starting out in cross country running, she took gold in the junior race at the 2000 European Cross Country Championships. Her first appearance on the world stage on the track came in the 5000 metres at the 2005 World Championships, but she finished last in her heat. She enjoyed success at the Ibero American Championships however, taking gold in the 3000 m in 2004 and 2006. She led the Portuguese women to the team gold at the 2006 European Cross Country Championships. Competing at the Athletics at the 2007 Summer Universiade, Augusto set Universiade record on the way to winning the

5000 metres The 5000 metres or 5000-metre run is a common long-distance running event in track and field, approximately equivalent to or . It is one of the track events in the Olympic Games and the World Championships in Athletics, run over laps of a sta ...

. She was the 2008 Portuguese cross country champion and went on to take the silver medal at the 2008 European Cross Country Championships. She began to apply herself to the steeplechase and set the Portuguese record in 2008. She competed in two disciplines at the

(5000 m and steeplechase) but failed to reach the final of either event. In the following season, a fourth-place finish at the 2009 European Cross Country Championships meant she missed out on an individual medal, although she again headed Portugal to the women's team gold. She became the 1500 m champion of the 2009 Lusophony Games in July. Competing at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15 to 23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenbu ...

, she reached the final of the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually Abbreviation, abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase (athletics), steeplechase in track and field. It is an obstacle race over the distance of the 3000 met ...

and finished 11th overall. When years later, in 2015,

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

athlete Marta Domínguez was banned for three years by the

Court of Arbitration for Sport The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS; , TAS) is an international body established in 1984 to settle disputes related to sport through arbitration. Its headquarters are in Lausanne, Switzerland, and its courts are located in New York City, Sy ...

because of her ties to doping as well as issues with her

biological passport An athlete biological passport is an individual electronic record for professional athletes, in which profiles of biological markers of doping and results of doping tests are collated over a period of time. Doping violations can be detected by ...

and as a result, saw all her results from 5 August 2009 until 8 July 2013 being nullified, Augusto's 11th place turned into a 10th overall. Augusto won the

in 2009, recording a time of 1:09:08 for the

race. She fended off compatriots Inês Monteiro and Anália Rosa to win the 2009 Oeiras International Cross Country meeting. She ran in the 3000 m at the 2010 IAAF World Indoor Championships and she finished in eighth place in the final. She was 21st at the 2010 IAAF World Cross Country Championships, but despite this she was the first European-born runner to cross the line. After a win at the Cursa Bombers in a 10 km personal best of 32:08, she stated that she was looking to attempt longer distance races, including the

10,000 metres The 10,000 metres or the 10,000-metre run is a common long-distance track running event. The event is part of the athletics programme at the Olympic Games and the World Athletics Championships, and is common at championship-level events. The ...

on the track. She improved her 10K best further to 31:47 minutes with a runner-up performance at the Great Manchester Run. At the 2010 Ibero-American Championships, she won the

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receives ...

in the 1500 m but she was dissatisfied with the performance, despite running a personal best of 4:08.32. Augusto entered the 3000 m where she promptly ran a championship record of 8:46.59, the fastest run by a European at that point in the year. She ran a Portuguese record of 9:18:54 in the 3000 m steeplechase later that month, finishing behind Marta Domínguez at the Gran Premio de Andalucía. She recorded a personal best in the

at the

Meeting Areva Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Dia ...

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fifteen invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics one-day meet competitions. The inaugural season was ...

competition, knocking over 20 seconds off her previous time with a run of 14:37.07 for fifth place. At the

2010 European Athletics Championships The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, C ...

she was some distance behind Elvan Abeylegesse in the 10,000 m, who completed a solo run to victory, but she was still the clear bronze medallist – her first podium finish on the track at continental level. She represented Europe over 5000 m at the 2010 IAAF Continental Cup but only managed seventh place. Her end of year focus was the 2010 European Cross Country Championships held on home soil in

Albufeira Albufeira (, ), officially the City of Albufeira (), is a List of cities in Portugal, city and Concelho, municipality of Faro District in the Algarve region of southern Portugal. The population in 2021 was 44,158, in an area of . The city proper ...

. She led the race from virtually start to finish and openly celebrated to the home crowd in the final straight, such was the size of her lead. Her win also brought the Portuguese women the team gold for the third year running. She ended the year with a win at the San Silvestre Vallecana 10K race in

Madrid Madrid ( ; ) is the capital and List of largest cities in Spain, most populous municipality of Spain. It has almost 3.5 million inhabitants and a Madrid metropolitan area, metropolitan area population of approximately 7 million. It i ...

, where she again completed a gun-to-tape victory. She took on Anna Incerti at the Roma-Ostia Half Marathon in February 2011, but was beaten by the Italian's pace and had to settle for second. She made her debut over the

marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

distance in April at the

2011 London Marathon The 2011 London Marathon was the 31st running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 17 April. The elite men's race was won by Kenya's Emmanuel Kipchirchir Mutai in a course record time of 2:04:40 hours and ...

and she recorded a time of 2:24:33 hours for eighth position. She was second behind her fellow Portuguese and friend Ana Dulce Félix at the Austrian Women's Run after beginning the race with an excessive pace. She came tenth in the 10,000 m at the

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in the ...

. On the roads, she was runner-up at the

, won the Ovar Half Marathon, but failed to finish at the 2011 New York City Marathon. In her second marathon finish she gave a similar performance at the 2012 London Marathon, taking eighth in just under two hours and 25 minutes. Augusto represented Portugal at the London 2012 Olympic marathon and placed seventh, first among the Portuguese. Her only international appearance of 2013 came at the European Team Championships, where she was fifth in the 3000 m. She was in the top ten at the Great North Run and Portugal Half Marathon, but reached the podium at the Yokohama Women's Marathon, coming third. Despite the fact that she is currently a mother, she plans to participate in 2016 Rio Olympic Games.

Achievements

Personal bests

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, 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 a ...

– 2:10.59 min (2001), indoor – 2:05.97 min (2002) *

1000 metres The 1000 metres, 1 kilometer run, or 1K run is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. It consists of two and a half laps around an outdoor 400 m track, or five laps around an indoor 200 m track. The 1000 ...

– 2:47.5 min (2001) *

1500 metres The 1500 metres or 1500-metre run is the foremost middle distance track event in athletics. The distance has been contested at the Summer Olympics since 1896 and the World Championships in Athletics since 1983. It is equivalent to 1.5 kilomet ...

– 4:08.23 min (2010), indoor – 4:07.89 min (2009) *

Mile run The mile run (1,760 yards, 5,280 Foot (unit), feet, or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance running, middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling ...

– 4:45.15 min (1999), indoor – 4:32.18 min (2009) *

3000 metres The 3000 metres or 3000-metre run is a track running event, also commonly known as the "3K" or "3K run", where 7.5 laps are run around an outdoor 400 m track, or 15 laps around a 200 m indoor track. It is debated whether the 3000 m sho ...

– 8:41.35 min (2007) *

– 9:18:45 min NR (2010) *

– 14:37.18 min (2010) *

– 31:15.78 min (2010) *

Half marathon A half marathon is a road running event of —half the distance of a marathon. It is common for a half marathon event to be held concurrently with a marathon or a 5K race, using almost the same course with a late start, an early finish, or shortcu ...

– 1:09:58 hrs (2011) *

Marathon The marathon is a long-distance foot race with a distance of kilometres ( 26 mi 385 yd), usually run as a road race, but the distance can be covered on trail routes. The marathon can be completed by running or with a run/walk strategy. There ...

– 2:24:37 hrs (2014)

References

External links

Official website
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Augusto, Jessica 1981 births Living people Portuguese female middle-distance runners Portuguese female long-distance runners Portuguese female marathon runners Portuguese female steeplechase runners Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Portugal European Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships athletes for Portugal Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes from Paris European Cross Country Championships winners FISU World University Games gold medalists for Portugal 21st-century Portuguese sportswomen