Tania Van Heer (born 30 December 1970) is an Australian sprinter who won two gold medals at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

Athletics career

A junior prodigy, born in

Sri Lanka Sri Lanka, officially the Democratic Socialist Republic of Sri Lanka, also known historically as Ceylon, is an island country in South Asia. It lies in the Indian Ocean, southwest of the Bay of Bengal, separated from the Indian subcontinent, ...

(her Sri Lankan 200m women Under 18 record that established in 1986 with 24.8s held for 32 years until it was broken by Shelinda Jansen in 2018), Van Heer won the Under-20 sprint treble (100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres) at the 1988

Australian Championships in Athletics The Australian Athletics Championships or Australian Open Track and Field Championships are held annually to determine Australia's champion athletes in a range of athletics events. The championships are the primary qualification trial for athlet ...

.
Badly affected by injury through most of her career, Van Heer was selected to represent Australia internationally on six occasions. During her best years (1998–99), when coached by 1950 British Empire Games, 1950 Commonwealth Games gold medalist, Scotchy Gordon, Van Heer won a bronze medal over

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

at the

, followed by two gold medals as part of Australia's victorious 4 × 100 metres and 4 × 400 metres relay teams. In 1999, although again hampered by injuries, Van Heer ran in the

1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, a World Athletic Championships event held under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico de Sevilla, Seville, Spain, between the Augus ...

, just failing to make the final of 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 ...

. She also ran well in the 4 × 400 metres relay for Australia. Van Heer was again injured during 2000 and was unable to qualify for Australia's Olympic team. Van Heer attempted an international comeback in 2006 for the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

in Melbourne, having had children by that time. Despite finishing fourth in the official

trial, she was not chosen in the Games team.

Personal life

Her son Aidan Murphy is also an athlete who competes in sprint events and represented Australia in the 200 metres at the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the ...

Relay teams

Van Heer has won a number of international medals in 4 × 100 metre and 4 × 400 metre relays: * In Kuala Lumpur 1998, Van Heer led off the Australian 4 × 100 metres relay team of

Lauren Hewitt Lauren Katherine Hewitt (born 25 November 1978) is a track and field sprinter from Australia. She competed in three consecutive Summer Olympics, starting in 1996, and won the bronze medal in the women's 200 metres at the 1998 Commonwe ...

Nova Peris-Kneebone Nova Maree Peris (born 25 February 1971) is an Aboriginal Australian athlete and former politician. As part of the Australian women's field hockey (Hockeyroos) team at the 1996 Olympic Games, she was the first Aboriginal Australian to win an ...

and Sharon Cripps to win the

event. * Shortly afterwards, Van Heer joined with Lee Naylor,

Tamsyn Lewis Tamsyn Carolyn Lewis (born 20 July 1978) is an Australian media personality and former track and field athlete who won a total of eighteen Australian Championships across the 400 metres, 800 metres and 400 m hurdles. She first repre ...

and

Susan Andrews Susan Elizabeth Andrews (born 26 May 1971 in Hobart, Tasmania) is an Australian retired athlete who mostly competed in the 400 metres. She represented her country at two Summer Olympics, in 1992 and 2000. She has personal bests of 51.55 seconds ...

to win the 4 × 400 metres relay in a time of 3-27.28s. * At the 1999 World Indoor Championships in

Maebashi is the capital city of Gunma Prefecture, in the northern Kantō region of Japan. , the city had an estimated population of 335,352 in 151,171 households, and a population density of 1100 persons per km2. The total area of the city is . It was ...

, Van Heer combined with

and

Cathy Freeman Catherine Astrid Salome Freeman (born 16 February 1973) is an Australian former sprinter, who specialised in the 400 metres event. Her personal best of 48.63 seconds currently ranks her as the ninth-fastest woman of all time, set while fin ...

to win a silver medal in an Australian record of 3-26.87.

Statistics

Personal bests

* as at 10 March 2008

Yearly progression

* as at 10 March 2008

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Van Heer, Tania 1970 births Living people Australian female sprinters Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Sportswomen from South Australia Sri Lankan emigrants to Australia Athletes from Adelaide Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists 21st-century Australian women Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games 20th-century Australian sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics