Niki Xanthou (, , born 11 October 1973 in

Rhodes Rhodes (; ) is the largest of the Dodecanese islands of Greece and is their historical capital; it is the List of islands in the Mediterranean#By area, ninth largest island in the Mediterranean Sea. Administratively, the island forms a separ ...

) is a

Greek Greek may refer to: 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 of all kno ...

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 gr ...

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 ( , ; ; is a municipality, a List of towns in Switzerland, historic Swiss town, and the capital of the canton of Ticino in Switzerland. The town is famous for its Three Castles of Bellinzona, three castles (Castelgrande, Montebello, Sa ...

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

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Georgia (U.S. state), most populous city in the U.S. state of Georgia (U.S. state), Georgia. It is the county seat, seat of Fulton County, Georg ...

, in which she took the 4th place with 6.97 m. She won the Mediterranean Games of 1997 in

Bari Bari ( ; ; ; ) is the capital city of the Metropolitan City of Bari and of the Apulia Regions of Italy, region, on the Adriatic Sea in southern Italy. It is the first most important economic centre of mainland Southern Italy. It is a port and ...

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 ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

and the gold medal in 2002 European Indoor Championships in Vienna. She was named the Greek Female Athlete of the Year for 1997.

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 for Greece World Athletics Championships medalists Sportspeople 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 Greek Athletics Championships winners {{Greece-athletics-bio-stub