Elis Lapenmal (born 6 September 1987 in

Malakula Malakula Island, also spelled Malekula, is the second-largest island in the nation of Vanuatu, formerly the New Hebrides, in Melanesia, a region of the Pacific Ocean. Location Malakula is separated from the islands of Espiritu Santo and Malo by ...

) is a

Ni-Vanuatu Ni-Vanuatu (informally abbreviated Ni-Van) is a large group of closely related Melanesians, Melanesian ethnic groups native to the island country of Vanuatu. As such, ''Ni-Vanuatu'' are a mixed ethnolinguistic group with a shared ethnogenesis tha ...

sprinter. Competing at the

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

in 2007, Lapenmal ran the 100 metres in 13.10 seconds. She won a silver medal at the South Pacific Mini Games, and qualified as a "

wildcard Wild card most commonly refers to: * Wild card (cards), a playing card that substitutes for any other card in card games * Wild card (sports), a tournament or playoff place awarded to an individual or team that has not qualified through normal pla ...

entry" to represent Vanuatu in the 100 metres event at the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

. Prior to the Beijing Games, the

British British may refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * British people, nationals or natives of the United Kingdom, British Overseas Territories, and Crown Dependencies. ** Britishness, the British identity and common culture * British English, ...

newspaper A newspaper is a periodical publication containing written information about current events and is often typed in black ink with a white or gray background. Newspapers can cover a wide variety of fields such as politics, business, sports a ...

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'', and changed its name in 1959. Along with its sister papers ''The Observer'' and ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardian'' is part of the Gu ...

'' described her, along with

Palestine __NOTOC__ Palestine may refer to: * State of Palestine, a state in Western Asia * Palestine (region), a geographic region in Western Asia * Palestinian territories, territories occupied by Israel since 1967, namely the West Bank (including East ...

's Hamza Abdu, as one of the Games' "underdogs", and as such she has also been described as a "potential successor to (Eric) Moussambani"."Lovable losers - the Olympic ideal or waste of space"
, AFP, July 6, 2008 In her first round heat in

she placed eighth and last in a time of 13.31 which was not enough to advance to the second round.Athlete biography: Elis Lapenmal
, beijing2008.cn, ret: Aug 27, 2008

References

*
Biography
on the website of the Beijing Olympics

External links

* 1987 births Living people Vanuatuan female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Vanuatu People from Malampa Province Olympic female sprinters {{Vanuatu-athletics-bio-stub