Gabriela Maria DeBues-Stafford (née Stafford, born 13 September 1995) is a Canadian
middle- and
long-distance runner
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 endurance, stamina as well as mental strength.
Within e ...
. A two-time Olympian, she placed fifth in the
women's 1500 metres at the
2020 Tokyo Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the 1 ...
. DeBues-Stafford holds the
NACAC area record over the indoor
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 stan ...
, which she set in February 2022.
She holds six Canadian national outdoor and indoor records over distances from the
1500
Year 1500 (Roman numerals, MD) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Julian calendar. The year 1500 was not a leap year in the Proleptic Gregorian calendar.
The year was seen as being especially important by many Christians in Europe, ...
to 5000 metres. In addition, she won a silver medal at the
2015 Summer Universiade )
, Nations participating = 143
, Athletes participating = 12,885
, Events = 272 in 21 sports
, Opening ceremony =
, Closing ceremony =
, Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye
, Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young
, Judge's Oath = K ...
.
Career
Early career
DeBues-Stafford was born in
London, Ontario
London (pronounced ) is a city in southwestern Ontario, Canada, along the Quebec City–Windsor Corridor. The city had a population of 422,324 according to the 2021 Canadian census. London is at the confluence of the Thames River, approximate ...
and grew up in
Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
.
Her father James Stafford was a former competitive runner and represented Canada at four World Cross Country Championships.[ She and her younger sister Lucia initially trained in ]competitive
Competition is a rivalry where two or more parties strive for a common goal which cannot be shared: where one's gain is the other's loss (an example of which is a zero-sum game). Competition can arise between entities such as organisms, indivi ...
Irish dancing
Irish dance refers to a group of traditional dance forms that originate in Ireland, encompassing dancing both solo and in groups, and dancing for social, competitive, and performance purposes. Irish dance in its current form developed from vario ...
, but DeBues-Stafford switched to running, subsequently joined by Lucia to spend more time with her father and sister. Both sisters were diagnosed with Graves' disease
Graves' disease (german: Morbus Basedow), also known as toxic diffuse goiter, is an autoimmune disease that affects the thyroid. It frequently results in and is the most common cause of hyperthyroidism. It also often results in an enlarged thyr ...
as teenagers, though DeBues-Stafford's case would prove more manageable than Lucia's in the years ahead, hindering the latter's athletics career.[
In Grade 12, DeBues-Stafford won the ]Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations
The Ontario Federation of School Athletic Associations (OFSAA) is an organization of student-athletes, teacher-coaches, student-coaches, teachers, principals, and sport administrators in Ontario, Canada. OFSAA is the second largest high school ath ...
' cross country running
Cross country running is a sport in which teams and individuals run a race on open-air courses over natural terrain such as dirt or grass. The course, typically long, may include surfaces of grass and earth, pass through woodlands and open coun ...
championship.[ She was subsequently accepted to study ]psychology
Psychology is the scientific study of mind and behavior. Psychology includes the study of conscious and unconscious phenomena, including feelings and thoughts. It is an academic discipline of immense scope, crossing the boundaries betwe ...
at the University of Toronto
The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park. It was founded by royal charter in 1827 as King's College, the first institution ...
's Victoria College, during which time she competed for the Varsity Blues athletics squad. Appearing at a senior international championship for the first time, DeBues-Stafford won the silver medal in the women's 1500 m event at the 2015 Summer Universiade )
, Nations participating = 143
, Athletes participating = 12,885
, Events = 272 in 21 sports
, Opening ceremony =
, Closing ceremony =
, Officially opened by = Park Geun-hye
, Athlete's Oath = Kim Seong-yeon and Kim Kuk-young
, Judge's Oath = K ...
in Gwangju
Gwangju () is South Korea's sixth-largest metropolis. It is a designated metropolitan city under the direct control of the central government's Home Minister. The city was also the capital of South Jeolla Province until the provincial office ...
.
2016–21
DeBues-Stafford competing in the women's 1500 m at the 2016 World Indoor Championships in Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
, finishing twelfth in the heats and thus not advancing to the event final. In July 2016, she was officially named to Canada's Olympic team for the 2016 Summer Olympics
The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...
in Rio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...
. She placed ninth in her heat of the women's 1500 m event, and twenty-fifth overall, and thus did not advance to the semi-final phase of the competition.
The following year, she made her 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 ...
debut at the 2017 World Championships in Athletics
Seventeen or 17 may refer to:
* 17 (number), the natural number following 16 and preceding 18
* one of the years 17 BC, AD 17, 1917, 2017
Literature
Magazines
* ''Seventeen'' (American magazine), an American magazine
* ''Seventeen'' (Japane ...
, where she placed twenty-first in the semi-finals of the 1500 m and did not advance.
In a series of championships appearances in 2018, DeBues-Stafford competed for Canada at the World Indoor Championships and the 2018 Commonwealth Games
The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...
, in neither case advancing past the heats. At the 2018 NACAC Championships
The 2018 North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships was a regional track and field competition held at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Canada, from August 10–12, 2018. It was the third edition of a senior track and field championshi ...
in Toronto
Toronto ( ; or ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Ontario. With a recorded population of 2,794,356 in 2021, it is the most populous city in Canada and the fourth most populous city in North America. The city is the ancho ...
she won the bronze medal with a time of 4:07.36. While competing at the British Grand Prix
The British Grand Prix is a Grand Prix motor race organised in the United Kingdom by the Royal Automobile Club. First held in 1926, the British Grand Prix has been held annually since 1948 and has been a round of the FIA Formula One World C ...
on the 2018 Diamond League
The 2018 Diamond League was the ninth season of the Diamond League, annual series of outdoor track and field meetings, organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF). It is the second edition to feature the new champion ...
, she met coach Andy Young and, following discussions, agreed to move to train in Glasgow
Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...
, where Young's other students included Laura Muir
Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze med ...
.
DeBues-Stafford enjoyed a strong 2019, breaking the national records for the indoor mile and 5,000 metres and the outdoor 1,500 metre, mile and 5,000 metre records. She would go on to add the indoor 1,500 metre record in 2020. Making her second Worlds appearance at the 2019 World Athletics Championships
The 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships () was the seventeenth edition of the biennial, global athletics competition organised by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), since renamed World Athletics. It was held betw ...
in Doha
Doha ( ar, الدوحة, ad-Dawḥa or ''ad-Dōḥa'') is the capital city and main financial hub of Qatar. Located on the Persian Gulf coast in the east of the country, north of Al Wakrah and south of Al Khor, it is home to most of the coun ...
, she advanced to the final in the women's 1500 m event and placed sixth with a time of 3:56.12.[ In doing so, she achieved her previously-stated goal of running in the final in a time under four minutes.][ She remarked afterward that "I really believed I had a chance at a medal, even 200 meters from the finish," but that "once I was into the homestretch, I knew I didn’t have it." Following this, she moved to train at Portland's Bowerman Track Club under ]Shalane Flanagan
Shalane Grace Flanagan (born July 8, 1981) is an American long-distance runner, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area reco ...
.
With the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identif ...
delaying the 2020 Summer Olympics
The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July.
Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...
by a year, DeBues-Stafford continued to train with a focus on strength and endurance work. As the 2021 season started, she broke the 1 minute 59 seconds barrier at the Portland Track Festival's 800 metres event, becoming one of only three women in the world who have run under 1:59 in the 800 metres
The 800 metres, or meters ( 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 an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...
, 3:57 in the 1500 metres, and 14:45 in 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 stan ...
. She was again named to the Canadian Olympic team, this time alongside her sister Lucia. Both competed in the women's 1500 m event in Tokyo
Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...
, with Gabriela advancing to the event final while Lucia finished thirteenth in the semi-finals, narrowly missing being amongst the final twelve. She placed fifth in the Olympic final.
2022–present
On 11 February 2022, at the David Hemery Valentine Invitational in Boston, DeBues-Stafford broke the North, Central American and Caribbean record in the indoor 5000 metres with a time of 14m 31.38s, improving the mark set by USA's Shalane Flanagan
Shalane Grace Flanagan (born July 8, 1981) is an American long-distance runner, Olympic medalist and New York City Marathon champion. She was the first American woman to win the New York City Marathon since 1977. She holds the NACAC area reco ...
in 2009 by more than 15 seconds. In her first championship appearance of the year at the 2022 World Indoor Championships in Belgrade
Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...
, she finished fourth in the 3000 m
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 3000m shoul ...
, narrowly missing the podium.
In April 2022, DeBues-Stafford announced that she was relocating from Portland to Victoria
Victoria most commonly refers to:
* Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia
* Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada
* Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory
* Victoria, Seychelle ...
, citing the ongoing doping controversy around former training partner Shelby Houlihan
Shelby Houlihan (born February 8, 1993) is an American middle distance runner, Olympian and World Record holder in the 4x1500m relay who is currently serving a ban. Houlihan competed in the 5000m final at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio, finishing ...
as having been detrimental to her preparations for the Tokyo Olympics. Due to developing a stress reaction in her sacrum
The sacrum (plural: ''sacra'' or ''sacrums''), in human anatomy, is a large, triangular bone at the base of the spine that forms by the fusing of the sacral vertebrae (S1S5) between ages 18 and 30.
The sacrum situates at the upper, back part ...
, she was forced to end her season prematurely, foregoing both the 2022 Commonwealth Games
The 2022 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Birmingham 2022, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations that took place in Birmingham, England bet ...
and 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 f ...
.
Personal life
The daughter of James Stafford and Maria Luisa Gardner, DeBues-Stafford has an older brother, Nicholas, and her sister Lucia. Her mother passed away due to leukemia
Leukemia ( also spelled leukaemia and pronounced ) is a group of blood cancers that usually begin in the bone marrow and result in high numbers of abnormal blood cells. These blood cells are not fully developed and are called ''blasts'' or ' ...
when she was 13.[ Both Gabriela and Lucia are trilingual, speaking English, French and Spanish.
DeBues-Stafford is ]bisexual
Bisexuality is a romantic or sexual attraction or behavior toward both males and females, or to more than one gender. It may also be defined to include romantic or sexual attraction to people regardless of their sex or gender identity, whi ...
.[ She dyed her hair in ]rainbow
A rainbow is a meteorological phenomenon that is caused by reflection, refraction and dispersion of light in water droplets resulting in a spectrum of light appearing in the sky. It takes the form of a multicoloured circular arc. Rainbows c ...
colours for the 2021 athletic season due to their association with the LGBT community. She met her husband, Rowan DeBues while moving into her dormitory at the University of Toronto. They married in 2019, each taking on hyphenate surnames.[
]
Competition record
Personal bests
Outdoor
*800 metres
The 800 metres, or meters ( 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 an outdoor (400-metre) track and has been an Olympic event since the ...
– 1:58.70 (Portland 2021)
*1500 metres
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') 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 Athletic ...
– 3:56.12 (Doha 2019)
* One mile – 4:17.87 (Monaco 2019)
*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 3000m shoul ...
– 8:38.51 (Phoenix 2021)
*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 stan ...
- 14:44.12 (Brussels 2019)
Indoor
*1000 metres
The 1000 metres is an uncommon middle-distance running event in track and field competitions.
The 1000 yards, an imperial alternative, was sometimes also contested.
All-time top 25
*h = hand timed
*i = indoor performance
*A = affected by ...
– 2:42.47 (Ottawa 2016)
*1500 metres
The 1500 metres or 1,500-metre run (typically pronounced 'fifteen-hundred metres') 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 Athletic ...
– 4:00.80 (New York 2020)
* One mile – 4:19.73 (Millrose Games 2020)
*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 3000m shoul ...
– 8:33.92 (New York 2022)
*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 stan ...
– 14:31.38 (Boston 2022) North, Central American and Caribbean record
References
External links
*
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:DeBues-Stafford, Gabriela
1995 births
Living people
Athletes from London, Ontario
Canadian female middle-distance runners
Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
Olympic track and field athletes for Canada
Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)
Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games
Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics
Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada
Universiade silver medalists for Canada
World Athletics Championships athletes for Canada
Medalists at the 2015 Summer Universiade
Canadian LGBT sportspeople
Canadian bisexual people
Bisexual sportswomen
21st-century Canadian women
21st-century Canadian LGBT people