Maria "Ria" Geertruida Stalman (born 11 December 1951) is a retired

discus throw The discus throw (), also known as disc throw, is a track and field event in which an athlete throws a heavy disk (mathematics), disc—called a discus—in an attempt to mark a farther distance than their competitors. It is an classical antiqui ...

er and

shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" (throwing) a heavy spherical ball—the ''shot''—as far as possible. The shot put competition for men has been a part of the modern Olympics since their revival in 1896, and women's ...

ter from the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

Biography

She won the

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 ...

in the discus throw at the

1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, which earned her the Dutch Sportswoman of the year award the same year. Between 1973 and 1983 she won medals, including 15 gold, in the discus throw and shot put at every national championships. Stalman went to

Arizona State University Arizona State University (Arizona State or ASU) is a public research university in the Phoenix metropolitan area. Founded in 1885 by the 13th Arizona Territorial Legislature, ASU is one of the largest public universities by enrollment in the ...

, where she was on the track and field team. She retired shortly after the 1984 Olympics to work as a

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

and athletics commentator with ''

Eurosport Eurosport is a group of pay television networks in Europe and parts of Asia. Owned by Warner Bros. Discovery through Warner Bros. Discovery Sports#Warner Bros. Discovery Sports Europe properties, its international sports unit, it operates two ...

''. In early 2016, Stalman admitted in a TV interview that she had been using doping when she won her 1984 gold medal. The results and records remain, because the offense is too old to prosecute. In July 1984 she achieved her best discus throw of 71.22 m. This remained the Dutch record until November 2016, when the

Royal Dutch Athletics Federation The Royal Dutch Athletics Federation (Dutch: ''Koninklijke Nederlandse Atletiek Unie'' or ''Atletiekunie'') is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the Netherlands. Affiliations * World Athletics (WA) * European Athletic Association ...

annulled the record due to doping violations.

References

External links

* 1951 births Living people Sportspeople from Delft Dutch female discus throwers Dutch female shot putters Olympic athletes of the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics World Athletics Championships athletes for the Netherlands Arizona State Sun Devils women's track and field athletes Knights of the Order of Orange-Nassau Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Arizona State University alumni {{Netherlands-athletics-bio-stub