Ellen van Langen
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Ellen Gezina Maria van Langen (born 9 February 1966) is a Dutch former middle distance
runner Running is a method of terrestrial locomotion allowing humans and other animals to move rapidly on foot. Running is a type of gait characterized by an aerial phase in which all feet are above the ground (though there are exceptions). This is ...
, who specialised 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 ...
. A talented but injury-ridden athlete, she was the 1992 Olympic Champion for the women's 800 meters. She is now the director of the
FBK games The FBK Games is an annual track and field event at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadion in Hengelo, Netherlands as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1981. Its name honours Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold med ...
(the Hengelo meeting).


Career

Van Langen was born in
Oldenzaal Oldenzaal (; Tweants: ''Oldnzel'') is a municipality and a city in the eastern province of Overijssel in the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Twente and is close to the German border. It received city rights in 1249. Historically, the city ...
,
Overijssel Overijssel (, ; nds, Oaveriessel ; german: Oberyssel) is a Provinces of the Netherlands, province of the Netherlands located in the eastern part of the country. The province's name translates to "across the IJssel", from the perspective of the ...
. Before she started running she played
football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...
. She only started to run seriously at 20. In 1989, she won her first of four national championships in the 800 meters and went on to win a silver medal behind
Ana Quirot Ana Fidelia Quirot Moré (; born March 23, 1963) is a former track and field athlete from Cuba, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 400 m. At 800 metres, she is a two-time World Champion (1995, 1997) and a two-time Olym ...
(Cuba) at the World Student Games (Universiade), running 1:59.82. In 1990, she finished fourth in the final of the
European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...
in Split, with a Dutch national record of 1:57.57, behind the East German athletes Sigrun Wodars (gold), Christine Wachtel (silver) and
Liliya Nurutdinova Liliya Foatovna Nurutdinova (russian: Лилия Фоатовна Нурутдинова; born 15 December 1963) is a retired middle-distance runner who represented the Soviet Union and the Unified Team. Her greatest achievement was the 1992 Ol ...
(bronze) from the Soviet Union. During the year 1991, she was troubled by an
Achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcaneus (h ...
injury. At the Tokyo World Championships she was eliminated in the heats. The next year, leading up to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, she defeated Tokyo gold medallist Liliya Nurutdinova at the
Fanny Blankers-Koen Games The FBK Games is an annual track and field event at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Stadion in Hengelo, Netherlands as part of the IAAF World Challenge Meetings. It was first organized in 1981. Its name honours Fanny Blankers-Koen, who won four gold medal ...
in
Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the province of Overijssel. The city lies along the motorways A1/E30 and A35 and it has a station for the international Amsterdam – Hannover – Berlin service. Popu ...
on 28 June in 1:56.66, the fastest time of the season prior to the Games. Just two weeks before the Olympics, she ran another fast time of 1:56.92 at
Hechtel Hechtel-Eksel () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Limburg. On 1 January 2018 it had a total population of 12,290 an area of 76.70 km² giving a population density of 150 inhabitants per km². The municipality was created ...
. At the 1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...
, Van Langen won the Olympic title in the 800 metres in a time of 1:55.54, a time which is still the Dutch national record. Fearing her final sprint, her competitors including favorites Nurutdinova, Quirot,
Ella Kovacs Ella Kovacs (born 11 December 1964) is a retired Romanian middle-distance runner of Hungarian descent who specialized in the 800 metres.
(Romania) and
Maria Mutola Maria de Lurdes Mutola ( ; born 27 October 1972) is a retired female track and field athlete from Mozambique who specialised in the 800 metres running event. She is only the fourth female track and field athlete to compete at six Olympic Games. ...
(Mozambique) set a rapid pace, running the first lap in a very fast time of 55.73, with Van Langen only in 6th position. Entering the final stretch Nurutdinova, who had led the final from the start, had a slight lead but Van Langen moved through on the inside in the last 50m to win a surprise victory, beating Nurutdinova (silver) and Quirot (bronze). The year 1992 remained her top year, when she won 10 of her 11 800m races. After her Olympic triumph, she was plagued by various injuries. Her best result after 1992 was a 6th-place finish at the 1995 World Championships at Gothenburg. The ongoing injuries prevented her from defending her Olympic title in 1996. She retired from the sport in 1998. Van Langen later explained the secret of her success. "I think what I could do well is I could die very well in a race and still continue,” she said. “That is very hard, because it hurts running the 800 meters. You have to overcome some boundaries in yourself to continue when it hurts like hell. I was good at it. If the Olympic race would have been run by each athlete individual and the fastest time was the winner I would not have won." She added: "I was also good in tactics, looking around me and taking the right decisions." After her
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 ...
win in 1992 the
Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Amstel'') is the Capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, most populous city of the Netherlands, with The Hague being the seat of government. It has a population ...
unemployment benefits office terminated her dole on grounds that she might earn money from her victory in the future. She has a
degree Degree may refer to: As a unit of measurement * Degree (angle), a unit of angle measurement ** Degree of geographical latitude ** Degree of geographical longitude * Degree symbol (°), a notation used in science, engineering, and mathematics ...
in
economics Economics () is the social science that studies the Production (economics), production, distribution (economics), distribution, and Consumption (economics), consumption of goods and services. Economics focuses on the behaviour and intera ...
from the
University of Amsterdam The University of Amsterdam (abbreviated as UvA, nl, Universiteit van Amsterdam) is a public research university located in Amsterdam, Netherlands. The UvA is one of two large, publicly funded research universities in the city, the other being ...
, and currently works as an event manager for Global Sports Communication.


References


External links

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Langen, Ellen Van 1966 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Dutch female middle-distance runners Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for the Netherlands Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands People from Oldenzaal Olympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for the Netherlands Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade 20th-century Dutch women 21st-century Dutch women Sportspeople from Overijssel