Nuria Fernández Domínguez (born 16 August 1976 in Luzern, Switzerland) is a Spanish

middle distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, up to 3000 metres. The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distance event. The 15 ...

. She specialises 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 Athle ...

and is the Spanish record holder in the

mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

and the 1500 m indoors.

Career

Fernández has represented Spain at the

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

, 2004 and 2012 Summer Olympics as well as at the

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2009 and

2011 World Championships in Athletics The 13th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () was an international athletics competition that was held in Daegu, South Korea. It started on 27 August 2011 and finished on 4 September 2011. The United States topped the medal standings in th ...

. She has also represented Spain at four

European Championships in Athletics The European Athletics Championships is a biennial (from 2010) athletics event organised by the European Athletics Association and is recognised as the elite continental outdoor athletics championships for Europe. Editions First held, for men ...

, three

World Athletics Indoor Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

and four

European Athletics Indoor Championships The European Athletics Indoor Championships is a biennial indoor track and field competition for European athletes that is organised by the European Athletic Association. It was held for the first time in 1970, replacing the European Indoor Games ...

. Fernández's best result came at the

2010 European Championships in Athletics The 2010 European Athletics Championships were the 20th edition of the European Athletics Championships, organised under the supervision of the European Athletic Association. They were held at the Estadi Olímpic Lluís Companys in Barcelona, Cat ...

where she won gold in the 1500 m, ahead of France's Hind Dehiba and Spain's Natalia Rodriguez. Following that result, she won silver at the

2011 European Indoor Championships in Athletics The 2011 European Athletics Indoor Championships were held at the Palais Omnisports de Paris-Bercy in Paris, France, from 4 to 6 March 2011. 577 athletes representing 46 countries competed at the championships. Twenty-six track and field events w ...

held in Paris, behind Russia's Elena Arzhakova. After a number of athletes were disqualified, Fernandez also won gold at the 2012 European Championships in Athletics held in Helsinki. She also finished fourth in the 1500 m at the

2009 World Championships in Athletics The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics () were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg ...

and fourth again in the 3000 m at the

2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships The 2009 European Athletics Indoor Championships was held in Turin, Italy, from Friday, 6 March to Sunday, 8 March 2009. The championships took place at the Oval Lingotto indoor arena

. Although Fernández specializes in the 1500 m, she has achieved significant success in cross country events. She won bronze medals representing Spain in the team competition at both the

2009 European Cross Country Championships The 2009 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that was held on 13 December 2009 near Dublin city, Fingal in Ireland. Dublin was selected as the host city in 2007 and the event was the first tim ...

held in Dublin (Ireland) and the

2010 European Cross Country Championships The 2010 European Cross Country Championships was a continental cross country running competition that took place on 12 December in Albufeira, Portugal. It was the second time that the country hosted the event, building upon the 1997 edition h ...

held in Albufeira (Portugal). She followed this with a win at the Cross Internacional de San Sebastián in January 2011, and a victory at the Spanish Cross Country Championships in February 2011. She ran at the Cursa Bombers 10 km race in 2010 and finished second behind

Jéssica Augusto Jéssica de Barros Augusto, (born 8 November 1981) is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country, road running and in middle-distance and long-distance track events. At club level, she represents Sporting CP. Augusto has enjoyed much ...

in a time of 33:03. Fernández ran a world-leading and personal best time of 8:38.05 in the 3000 metres at the Gran Premio de Andalucía in

Huelva Huelva (, ) is a city in southwestern Spain, the capital of the province of Huelva in the autonomous community of Andalusia. It is between two short rias though has an outlying spur including nature reserve on the Gulf of Cádiz coast. The ria ...

, beating opposition including Ines Chenonge and

Sara Moreira Sara Isabel Fonseca Moreira (; born 17 October 1985) is a Portuguese runner who competes in cross country, road running and in middle-distance and long-distance track events. She represents Sporting CP at club level. After ...

. On 9 December 2010 Fernández was questioned as a witness in relation to Operation Galgo, an investigation into a Spanish athletics doping ring being carried out by the

Guardia Civil The Civil Guard ( es, Guardia Civil, link=no; ) is the oldest law enforcement agency in Spain and is one of two national police forces. As a national gendarmerie force, it is military in nature and is responsible for civil policing under the au ...

. She denied all charges of doping and was allowed to remain on the team that represented Spain at the

European Cross Country Championships The European Cross Country Championships is an annual international cross country running competition. Organised by the European Athletic Association, it is the area championships for the region and is held in December each year. The championship ...

held in Albufeira, Portugal. ''El País'' reported that her coach, Manuel Pascua, admitted to police that he organised doping schedules for his athletes. Pascua later denied this report.Manuel Pascua: "Nunca he drogado a nadie"
'' 20Minutos.es''. Retrieved on 11 March 2011.

International competitions

Personal bests

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 t ...

- 2:00.35 min (2008) *

- 4:00.20 min (2010) *

Mile run The mile run (1,760 yards or exactly 1,609.344 metres) is a middle-distance foot race. The history of the mile run event began in England, where it was used as a distance for gambling races. It survived track and field's switch to ...

- 4:21.13 min (2008) * 3000 metres - 8:38.05 min (2010)

References

External links

* * * *
Nuria Fernández: It's never too late
feature article from European Athletics
Nuria Fernández (fanpage)
Nuria Fernández Fan Page. __NOTOC__ {{DEFAULTSORT:Fernandez, Nuria 1976 births Living people Spanish female middle-distance runners Spanish female long-distance runners Spanish expatriate sportspeople in Switzerland Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Spain Sportspeople from Lucerne European Athletics Championships medalists Mediterranean Games bronze medalists for Spain Mediterranean Games medalists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1997 Mediterranean Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2005 Mediterranean Games