Robert Lathouwers (born 8 July 1983 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"N ...

) is a former

Dutch Dutch commonly refers to: * Something of, from, or related to the Netherlands * Dutch people () * Dutch language () Dutch may also refer to: Places * Dutch, West Virginia, a community in the United States * Pennsylvania Dutch Country People E ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

who mainly focused on the

400 __NOTOC__ Year 400 ( CD) was a leap year starting on Sunday (link will display the full calendar) of the Julian calendar. In the Roman Empire, it was known as the Year of the Consulship of Stilicho and Aurelianus (or, less frequently, year 11 ...

and

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 ...

Biography

Lathouwers was born and raised in Rotterdam and has a sister who is two years older than he is named Maura.Robert Lathouwers biografie
robertlathouwers.com, ret: Aug 5, 2008 He started in athletics at the age of six, doing all different kinds of disciplines in the sport. He was a multi talented athlete and he won several

heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek επτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hept ...

and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in Athletics (sport), athletics consisting of ten track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek language, Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ...

meetings and was also invited to represent the Netherlands in international nation meetings. At the age of 17 he decided to fully concentrate himself at the sport and started training much more intensively. As the 400 metres was his best discipline in the decathlon he decided to focus on that and soon afterward he canceled his decathlon aspirations. After a period of quiet and effective training sessions he broke his personal record to 48.55 seconds, which was the 3rd time ever run by a B-junior in the Netherlands. In his first year as an A-junior he ran 47.14 seconds and he qualified himself for the 2001 European Junior Championships in

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical re ...

. The following year he suffered from several injuries, but still managed to break his personal record again to a time of 47.11 seconds. Due to this effort he qualified for the World Junior Championships in

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

where he finished in the 9th position. He represented the Netherlands also at the European Cup meeting in

Sevilla Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Gua ...

where he participated in the 4 x 400 metres relay in which his team became third in a time of 3:06.23. On 15 February 2003 he won his first national senior title at the Dutch Indoor Championships. Later that year during the Golden Spike meeting in

Leiden Leiden (; in English and archaic Dutch also Leyden) is a city and municipality in the province of South Holland, Netherlands. The municipality of Leiden has a population of 119,713, but the city forms one densely connected agglomeration wit ...

he ran 46.78 and qualified himself for the European under-23 Championships in

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz ( , , ; german: Bromberg) is a city in northern Poland, straddling the meeting of the River Vistula with its left-bank tributary, the Brda. With a city population of 339,053 as of December 2021 and an urban agglomeration with more ...

. Together with his team mates Jordy Hindriks, Peter Wolters and Jelle Heisen he also qualified for the 4 x 400 metres relay, running 3:08.95. At the European Championships Hindriks was replaced by Youssef el Rhalfioui and together they ran to a fourth position in a new Dutch under-23 record of 3:06.61. In 2005 he won his second indoor 400 metres title and later during the year he won his first outdoor title. Alongside Daniël Ward, Daniël de Wild and Sjors Kampen he also won a bronze medal at the European Under-23 Championships in

Erfurt Erfurt () is the capital and largest city in the Central German state of Thuringia. It is located in the wide valley of the Gera river (progression: ), in the southern part of the Thuringian Basin, north of the Thuringian Forest. It sits i ...

. Lathouwers had a disappointing year in 2006 as he suffered from injuries and was almost drowned during swimming at sea. In December 2006 he was asked by Haag Atletiek to substitute one of their runners at the 800 metres. Lathouwers was sceptical about the distance however, as he never ran races longer than 400 metres. He eventually gave it a try and he was the first to cross the finish line in 1:51.57. Lathouwers made a huge change in his career and decided to focus on the 800 metres from then on and during a training session in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

he ran the 800 metres in 1:47.81. In January 2008 he ran another race in South Africa in 1:46.70 and February during his first ever indoor 800 metres he ran 1:48.31, which was enough to qualify for the World Indoor Championships in Sevilla. A week later he became Dutch National Indoor Champion over 800 metres and during the outdoor season he also took this Dutch national title. At the World Championships he won his serie in the first round, which qualified him straight for the semi finals. In these semi finals he finished third behind

Mbulaeni Mulaudzi Mbulaeni Tongai Mulaudzi (8 September 1980 – 24 October 2014) was a South African middle distance runner, and the 2009 world champion in the men's 800 metres. His first global medal was a silver at the 2000 African Championships in Athletics ...

and

Abubaker Kaki Khamis Abubaker Kaki Khamis (; born 21 June 1989) is a Sudanese runner who specializes in the 800 metres. He is a two-time World Indoor Champion over the distance and also won gold at the 2007 All-Africa Games. He represented Sudan at the 2008 and 20 ...

and was eliminated. However, his time of 1:48.27 was another personal best. During the FBK Games 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 ...

he won the 800 metres impressively in 1:45.80, beating many World class runners, inclusive World Champion Alfred Yego. His next goal was to qualify for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Na ...

and on 13 July in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

his 1:45.30 was only 0.05 short to break the Olympic limit. Then, on 29 July in

Monaco Monaco (; ), officially the Principality of Monaco (french: Principauté de Monaco; Ligurian: ; oc, Principat de Mónegue), is a sovereign city-state and microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Italian region of Lig ...

, he secured his Olympic debut by running an impressive 1:44.75 during the Super Grand-Prix meeting there. He was disqualified from the 800m heats in the 2010 European Championships in Barcelona.

Personal bests

:Outdoor *

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

- 21.48 (2001,

Uden Uden () is a town and former municipality in the province of North Brabant, Netherlands. Since 2022 it has been part of the new municipality of Maashorst. History Uden was first recorded around 1190 as "Uthen". However, earlier settlements h ...

) *

300 metres The 300 metres is an uncommon sprinting event in track and field competitions. All-time top 25 *+ = en route to 400 m performance *i = indoor performance *A = affected by altitude *OT = oversized track (> 200 m in circumference) *h = hand timi ...

- 34.05 (2001,

Lisse Lisse () is a town and municipality in the province of South Holland in the Western Netherlands. The municipality, which lies within the Duin- en Bollenstreek, covers an area of of which is water. Its population was in . Located within the muni ...

) *

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

- 46.52 (2005,

) *

600 metres The 600 metres is a rarely run middle-distance running event in track and field competitions. It is most often run at high school indoor track and field competitions. All-time top 25 *i = indoor performance *A = affected by altitude *h = ha ...

- 1:15.90 (2012,

Pliezhausen Pliezhausen is a municipality in the district of Reutlingen in Baden-Württemberg in Germany. Geography Pliezhausen is located between the Neckar and the Schönbuch. Constituent communities The original municipality Pliezhausen consists of t ...

) *

- 1:44.61 (2012,

) :Indoor *

- 47.56 (2003,

Ghent Ghent ( nl, Gent ; french: Gand ; traditional English: Gaunt) is a city and a municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the East Flanders province, and the third largest in the country, exceeded in ...

) *

- 1:48.27 (2008,

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, Valencia and the Municipalities of Spain, third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is ...

)

Honours

* 400 metres (indoor) - Dutch National Championships, 2003, 2005 * 400 metres - Dutch National Championships, 2005 * 800 metres (indoor) - Dutch National Championships, 2008 * 800 metres - Dutch National Championships, 2008 * 4 x 400 metres - European under-23 Championships, 2005

References

External links

*
Official website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lathouwers, Robert 1983 births Living people Dutch male middle-distance runners Dutch male sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of the Netherlands Athletes from Rotterdam 21st-century Dutch people