Robert Lathouwers (born 8 July 1983 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , ; ; ) is the second-largest List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city in the Netherlands after the national capital of Amsterdam. It is in the Provinces of the Netherlands, province of South Holland, part of the North S ...

) is a former Dutch

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

who mainly focused on the

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

and

800 metres The 800 metres, or 800 meters (American and British English spelling differences#-re.2C -er, 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 a ...

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 ἑπτά (hepta, meaning "seven") and ἄθλος (áthlos, or ἄθλον, áthlon, meaning "competition"). A competitor in a hep ...

and

decathlon The decathlon is a combined event in athletics consisting of 10 track and field events. The word "decathlon" was formed, in analogy to the word "pentathlon", from Greek δέκα (''déka'', meaning "ten") and ἄθλος (''áthlos'', or ἄ ...

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, officially the Italian Republic, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe, Western Europe. It consists of Italian Peninsula, a peninsula that extends into the Mediterranean Sea, with the Alps on its northern land b ...

. 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 in the Caribbean Sea and the West Indies. At , it is the third-largest island—after Cuba and Hispaniola—of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean. Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, west of Hispaniola (the is ...

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

Sevilla Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula. Seville ...

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 language, English and Archaism, archaic Dutch language, Dutch also Leyden) is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Provinces of the Nethe ...

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

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

. 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 (political), capital and largest city of the Central Germany (cultural area), Central German state of Thuringia, with a population of around 216,000. It lies in the wide valley of the Gera (river), River Gera, in the so ...

. 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 Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

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

Hengelo Hengelo (; Tweants dialect, Tweants: ) is a city in the eastern part of the Netherlands, in the Twente region, in the province of Overijssel. It is part of a larger urban area that also includes Enschede, Borne, Overijssel, Borne, Almelo and Ol ...

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 officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

and on 13 July in

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

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, is a Sovereign state, sovereign city-state and European microstates, microstate on the French Riviera a few kilometres west of the Regions of Italy, Italian region of Liguria, in Western Europe, ...

, 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 slight ...

- 21.48 (2001, Uden) * 300 metres - 34.05 (2001, Lisse) *

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 programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

- 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. It is also run at the Penn Relays. All-time top 25 * i = indoor performa ...

- 1:15.90 (2012, Pliezhausen) *

- 1:44.61 (2012,

) :Indoor *

- 47.56 (2003,

Ghent Ghent ( ; ; historically known as ''Gaunt'' in English) is a City status in Belgium, city and a Municipalities of Belgium, municipality in the Flemish Region of Belgium. It is the capital and largest city of the Provinces of Belgium, province ...

) *

- 1:48.27 (2008,

Valencia Valencia ( , ), formally València (), is the capital of the Province of Valencia, province and Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Valencian Community, the same name in Spain. It is located on the banks of the Turia (r ...

)

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 for the Netherlands Athletes from Rotterdam 21st-century Dutch sportsmen