Tina Paulino
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Argentina da Glória “Tina” Paulino (born 7 July 1973) is an
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 ...
runner from
Mozambique Mozambique, officially the Republic of Mozambique, is a country located in Southeast Africa bordered by the Indian Ocean to the east, Tanzania to the north, Malawi and Zambia to the northwest, Zimbabwe to the west, and Eswatini and South Afr ...
.


Early life

Born in
Inhambane Inhambane (also known as Terra de Boa Gente (''Land of Good People'')) is a city located in southern Mozambique, lying on Inhambane Bay, 470 km northeast of Maputo. It is the capital of the Inhambane Province and, according to the 2017 cen ...
, Tina Paulino is a distant cousin of
Maria de Lurdes Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired Mozambican female track and field who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. She is a th ...
. She started competing in 1992 at the age of 18, having already played
basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...
for the national team. Stelio Craveirinha, son of the poet Jose Craveirinha and himself a former national
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 ...
record holder, was the man responsible for introducing her to athletics. She competed in a number of road races, but there was no track competition for her in Mozambique. Craveirinha, however, managed to convince the National Olympic Committee to send her to
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...
on a training camp. Her results were impressive given the short time that she had been running seriously: she won the Portuguese national 800 m title in a time of 2:03.84, faster than Mutola ran in her first race outside of Mozambique.


Career

In 1993, after a string of victories on the
South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...
n circuit, Tina stunned athletics observers by running 1:56.62 in a race won by cousin Mutola in 1:56.56. Both runners beat Mutola’s week-old African record. In the World Championship final of that year, held in
Stuttgart Stuttgart (; ; Swabian German, Swabian: ; Alemannic German, Alemannic: ; Italian language, Italian: ; ) is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Baden-Württemberg by population, largest city of the States of Germany, German state of ...
she was unfortunate to fall over when challenging for a medal. From 1995, Tina benefited from the ‘Atlanta ‘96’ IOC Solidarity Programme, an initiative designed to boost the Olympic preparations of carefully selected athletes from developing nations. Tina and eleven other athletes, including Tommy Asinga, Sipho Dlamini, Ngozi Mwanamwambwa and Marie Womplou, trained under the guidance of coach Ron Davis while attending LaGrange College at LaGrange, seventy miles southwest of
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 ...
, where they enjoyed state-of-the-art facilities and equipment, including a new $400 000 track. Despite developing an infection during a tooth extraction, Tina managed to reach the
IAAF World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international sports governing body, governing body for the sport ...
‘A’ standard and thus fulfilled the criteria for competing in the
IAAF 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 ...
in
Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...
, where she reached the semi-finals. Unfortunately she did not achieve the qualifying standard for the following year’s
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 ...
. In May 1997 Tina followed the Olympic Solidarity Programme as it moved from LaGrange to Savannah. In Savannah she attended and graduated from Armstrong Atlantic State University with BA in English Literature. Here, Dieudonne Kwizera and
Abdi Bile Abdi Bile (, ; born 28 December 1962) is a former middle distance runner. He holds the highest number of national records in athletics in Somalia across various disciplines. He is currently Somalia's national record holder in nine athletic disc ...
coached her to eventual silver at 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
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 ...
in 1998. The following year, 1999, seemed to see a consolidation of the good form Tina had displayed in
Malaysia Malaysia is a country in Southeast Asia. Featuring the Tanjung Piai, southernmost point of continental Eurasia, it is a federation, federal constitutional monarchy consisting of States and federal territories of Malaysia, 13 states and thre ...
. After elimination during the first round of the World Indoors in
Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...
, she scored victories at the
Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
ian Grand Prix, the Mt San Antonio College Relays, the Oregon Track Classic and the Harry Jerome Classic. She also had solid runs in
Eugene Eugene may refer to: People and fictional characters * Eugene (given name), including a list of people and fictional characters with the given name * Gene Eugene, stage name of Canadian born actor, record producer, engineer, composer and musi ...
and
St. Louis St. Louis ( , sometimes referred to as St. Louis City, Saint Louis or STL) is an independent city in the U.S. state of Missouri. It lies near the confluence of the Mississippi and the Missouri rivers. In 2020, the city proper had a populatio ...
. However, the Savannah International Training Centre closed its doors in late 1999, amidst claims that the IOC had failed to meet its obligations to provide enough athletes to keep the facilities open. Tina also worked with Luiz de Oliveira in
Tucson Tucson (; ; ) is a city in Pima County, Arizona, United States, and its county seat. It is the second-most populous city in Arizona, behind Phoenix, Arizona, Phoenix, with a population of 542,630 in the 2020 United States census. The Tucson ...
,
Arizona Arizona is a U.S. state, state in the Southwestern United States, Southwestern region of the United States, sharing the Four Corners region of the western United States with Colorado, New Mexico, and Utah. It also borders Nevada to the nort ...
. The Brazilian coached the 800 m stars
Joaquim Cruz Joaquim Carvalho Cruz (born 12 March 1963) is a Brazilian former middle-distance runner, winner of the 800 meters at the 1984 Summer Olympics. He is one of only ten men, and in August 1984 became the second man, to run the 800 metres in less th ...
and Jose Luis Barbosa, as well as Osmar dos Santos and Hudson de Souza. He also coached David Krummenacker and Patrick Nduwimana. In 2002, she went to the Centro Nacional de Treinamento de Atletismo in
Manaus Manaus () is the List of capitals of subdivisions of Brazil, capital and largest city of the States of Brazil, Brazilian state of Amazonas (Brazilian state), Amazonas. It is the List of largest cities in Brazil, seventh-largest city in Brazil, w ...
, where she achieved her best mark of that season: 2:01.25. The rest of the season was quiet – with the exception of a few low-key meetings in
Italy Italy, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...
she did not compete in
Europe Europe is a continent located entirely in the Northern Hemisphere and mostly in the Eastern Hemisphere. It is bordered by the Arctic Ocean to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the west, the Mediterranean Sea to the south, and Asia to the east ...
. She also failed to contest 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
Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
.


Later career

From late 2002 Tina was based in
Rovereto Rovereto (; "wood of sessile oaks"; locally: ''Roveredo'') is a city and ''comune'' in Trentino in northern Italy, located in the Vallagarina valley of the Adige River. History Rovereto was an ancient fortress town standing at the fronti ...
in Italy and competed for the Italian club US Quercia Marsili. She was also coached by Margo Fund. She qualified for the 2003 World Championships thanks to the fact that Mutola, as defending champion, received automatic entry. After an impressive first-round victory, she failed to progress beyond the semi-finals. By now, Tina had established herself as a regular pacemaker in both 800 m and 1500 m races on the European circuit. In 2004, however, her regular appearances as a pacemaker meant that she had few occasions to attempt to meet the strict Olympic qualifying standards. After a promising early-season 2:00.96 in Brazil, her marks became slower and slower. Her final opportunity to reach the required two-minute mark, the Iberoamerican Games in
Huelva Huelva ( , , ) is a municipality of Spain and the capital of the Huelva (province), province of Huelva, in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. Located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula, it sits betwee ...
in August, resulted in disaster – she failed to even qualify for the games final. 2005 started inauspiciously – with slow times outside 2:15.


External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Paulino, Tina 1973 births Living people Mozambican female middle-distance runners LaGrange College alumni Olympic athletes for Mozambique 20th-century Mozambican sportspeople Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Mozambique People from Inhambane World Athletics Championships athletes for Mozambique Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics African Games silver medalists for Mozambique Athletes (track and field) at the 1995 All-Africa Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics African Games silver medalists in athletics (track and field)