Niusha Carmen Mancilla Heredia (born 19 January 1971 in Cochabamba) is a

Bolivia , image_flag = Bandera de Bolivia (Estado).svg , flag_alt = Horizontal tricolor (red, yellow, and green from top to bottom) with the coat of arms of Bolivia in the center , flag_alt2 = 7 × 7 square p ...

n former 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 ...

. She holds the Bolivian records from 800 metres up to the 15 km road distance, as well as for the

3000 metres steeplechase The 3000 metres steeplechase or 3000-meter steeplechase (usually abbreviated as ) is the most common distance for the steeplechase in track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, a ...

. She is a two-time South American silver medallist in the

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 ...

and competed three times at the IAAF World Indoor Championships over that distance. She won middle distance track medals at the Ibero-American Championships in Athletics at the 2000 and 2002 editions. At the

2001 Bolivarian Games The XIV Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'') were a multi-sport event A multi-sport event is an organized sporting event, often held over multiple days, featuring competition in many different sports among organized teams of athle ...

she won three gold medals and set two national records. She also represented Bolivia at the

2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships The 2000 IAAF World Cross Country Championships took place on March 18/19, 2000. The races were held at the Sporting Complex in Vilamoura, Portugal. Reports of the event were given in ''The New York Times'', in the Herald, and for the IAAF ...

and the

2003 Pan American Games The 2003 Pan American Games were held in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, from August 1 to 17, 2003. The successful bid for the games was made in the mid-1990s, when Dominican Republic had one of the highest growth rates in Latin America. Al ...

Career

Mancilla began competing in middle distance events from a young age and was the 800 metres

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

list at the 1984 South American Youth Championships in Athletics. She made her global debut at the

1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics The 1986 World Junior Championships in Athletics was the inaugural 1986 edition of the World Junior Championships in Athletics. It was held in Athens, Greece on 16–20 July. Results Men Women Medal table Participation According to an un ...

, competing in the 800 m and the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

, in Athletics before going on to win the 800 m

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

at the 1986 South American Youth Championships in Athletics. At later South American Junior Championships in Athletics, she came fourth in

1987 File:1987 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The MS Herald of Free Enterprise capsizes after leaving the Port of Zeebrugge in Belgium, killing 193; Northwest Airlines Flight 255 crashes after takeoff from Detroit Metropolitan Airport, k ...

and

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

, then fifth at the

1989 File:1989 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The Cypress Street Viaduct, Cypress structure collapses as a result of the 1989 Loma Prieta earthquake, killing motorists below; The proposal document for the World Wide Web is submitted; The Exxo ...

meet. Mancilla's senior debut came at the

1997 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 6th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France from March 7 to March 9, 1997. It was the first athletic championships to introduce women's pole vault. There were a total numb ...

, where she ran in the heats of the

.Mancilla Niusha
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. In the outdoor season she claimed her first major senior medal, a silver over 1500 m at the

1997 South American Championships in Athletics The 1997 South American Championships in Athletics were held in Mar del Plata, Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina ...

.South American Championships (Women)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. She was also a

list at the

1997 Bolivarian Games The XIII Bolivarian Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Bolivarianos'') were a multi-sport event held between October 17–26, 1997, in Arequipa, Peru. The Games were organized by the Bolivarian Sports Organization (ODEBO). The opening ceremony that took pl ...

.Bolivarian Games
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. Her first 800 m medal came at the

1998 South American Games The VI South American Games (Spanish: ''Juegos Sudamericanos''; Portuguese: ''Jogos Sul-Americanos'') were a multi-sport event held in 1998 in Cuenca, Azuay, Ecuador, with some events in Azogues (futsal), Gualaceo (boxing), Guayaquil (bowling, c ...

, where she was runner-up in a time of 2:07.85 minutes.Mancilla Niusha
Tilastopaja. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. She set a Bolivian record of 4:20.16 minutes in the indoor 1500 m heats at the

1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 7th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held in the Green Dome Maebashi stadium in Maebashi, Japan from March 5 to March 7, 1999. It was the first time the Championships were staged outside Europe or North America. Primo Nebiolo, ...

. Her first medal in cross country running also came that year when she was runner-up to Chile's Erika Olivera in the short course race at the

South American Cross Country Championships The South American Cross Country Championships is an annual continental cross country running competition for athletes from South America or, more specifically, member countries of CONSUDATLE. It was first held in 1986, making it the oldest of t ...

. This led to her competing at the

and she came 82nd overall. Her run of 16:14.03 minutes in 2000 was a Bolivian record for 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 ...

and she was the 1500 m bronze medallist at that year's

Ibero-American Championships The Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (Spanish: ''Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') is a biennial athletics competition for athletes representing Ibero-American countries as well as a number of other Spanish- or Portuguese-spea ...

.Ibero-American Championships
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. Her best performances the following year all came at the

, where she completed a triple

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

sweep in the 800 m, 1500 m and the

. Her 800 m time of 2:03.98 minutes and steeplechase time of 10:40.7 minutes were both Bolivian records. Mancilla won multiple medals at the

2002 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics The 2002 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (''Spanish: X Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') was the tenth edition of the international athletics competition between Ibero-American nations which was held at the Estadio Cementos Progre ...

in Guatemala City, taking the 800 m bronze and 1500 m silver medals. She competed on the Spanish track circuit that summer and ran a 1500 m best of 4:17.91 minutes in

San Sebastián San Sebastian, officially known as Donostia–San Sebastián (names in both local languages: ''Donostia'' () and ''San Sebastián'' ()) is a city and Municipalities of Spain, municipality located in the Basque Country (autonomous community), B ...

and a

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 ...

national record of 9:16.03 minutes in Seville. Further to this, she ran a 15 km road record of 52:45 minutes in Bolivia in October. She ran an indoor 3000 m record of 9:35.1 minutes the following February in Zaragoza. Later that year she had her best ever performance in the 1500 m and improved her national record by over a second with a run of 4:16.64 minutes in Seville. At the

2003 South American Championships in Athletics The 2003 South American Championships in Athletics were held from June 20 to June 22 at the Polideportivo Máximo Viloria in Barquisimeto, Venezuela. Detailed day-by-day reports can be found on the IAAF website. Medal summary Men's even ...

Mancilla won her second and final continental track medal with a runner-up performance in the 1500 m (she was also fourth over 800 m). She also took part in the

, but did not finish in the 1500 m final. In her third global appearance she competed at the

2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 10th IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF) were held in the Budapest Arena, Hungary between March 5 and March 7, 2004. A total off 139 countries were re ...

, but did not finish her heat.2004 World Indoor Championships - Women's 1500 metres
IAAF. Retrieved on 2012-03-31. She set an unofficial South American 2000 m best of 5:59.96 minutes at a competition in Rivas-Vaciamadrid and attended the

2006 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics The 2006 Ibero-American Championships in Athletics (''Spanish: XII Campeonato Iberoamericano de Atletismo'') was the twelfth edition of the international athletics competition between Ibero-American nations that place at the Francisco Montaner Sta ...

in Huelva later that season, placing fourth in the 1500 m and sixth over 3000 m. She ran a Bolivian record in the 10K road race in November, running a time of 34:01 minutes in Madrid. She continued to compete in low level meetings in Spain from 2004 to 2008, but retired thereafter.

Achievements

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Mancilla, Niusha 1971 births Living people Sportspeople from Cochabamba Bolivian female middle-distance runners Bolivian female long-distance runners Bolivian steeplechase runners Bolivian female cross country runners Pan American Games competitors for Bolivia Athletes (track and field) at the 1991 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games South American Games silver medalists for Bolivia South American Games bronze medalists for Bolivia South American Games medalists in athletics Competitors at the 1990 South American Games Competitors at the 1998 South American Games