Sinta Ozoliņa-Kovala (born 26 February 1988) is a

Latvia Latvia, officially the Republic of Latvia, is a country in the Baltic region of Northern Europe. It is one of the three Baltic states, along with Estonia to the north and Lithuania to the south. It borders Russia to the east and Belarus to t ...

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown as far as possible. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's de ...

er. She was the 2007 European Junior silver medalist. She competed for Latvia at the

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and

2016 Olympic Games The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Career

Ozoliņa-Kovala was one of many Latvian

ers coached by Valentīna Eiduka. In 2006, she competed at the World Junior Championships, reached the final and finished in sixth place. She won the silver medal at the 2007 European Junior Championships, finishing second only to

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

's Vira Rebryk. In 2008, Ozoliņa-Kovala made her first appearance at the

Summer Olympics The Summer Olympic Games, also known as the Summer Olympics or the Games of the Olympiad, is a major international multi-sport event normally held once every four years. The inaugural Games took place in 1896 in Athens, then part of the King ...

. During the javelin throw qualification, she set a new Latvian record in javelin throw – 60.13m. This result also gave her a spot in the final, as that result was the twelfth best on the night. Two days later, in the final, Ozoliņa's best throw was 53.38m and she finished in tenth place. She competed at the

2010 European Athletics Championships 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, C ...

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, Spain, but did not reach the final. She had a sixth place finish at the

2012 European Athletics Championships The 2012 European Athletics Championships were held in Helsinki, Finland between 27 June and 1 July 2012. This edition marks the beginning of a new two-year cycle of the European Athletics Championships which were previously held every four years. ...

in Helsinki, Finland, with a best throw of 58.34 metres. Competing at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, Ozoliņa-Kovala had her best throw in the second round of 58.86 meters. Ozoliņa-Kovala ranked 11th in her group and 20th in the overall standings of the qualification competition, which was not enough to qualify for the final. In 2013, Ozoliņa-Kovala won the

International Association of Athletics Federations World Athletics, formerly known as the International Amateur Athletic Federation and International Association of Athletics Federations and formerly abbreviated as the IAAF, is the international governing body for the sport of athletics, coverin ...

(IAAF) Challenge Series in

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

. She won with a throw of 60.90 meters, 64 centimetres ahead of second-place finisher

Maria Abakumova Mariya Vasiliyevna Abakumova (; born 15 January 1986) is a Russian former track and field athlete who competed in the javelin throw. Career Abakumova discovered her love for athletics and throwing through her coach Irina Vladimirovna Kamarova. ...

of Russia. In early May of that year she placed fourth at the previous Challenge Series competition in Tokyo with a throw of 59.25 metres. She threw a personal best distance of 64.38 metres in Riga in 2013, 13 centimetres behind the Latvian record set by Madara Palameika. Competing in

Zurich Zurich (; ) is the list of cities in Switzerland, largest city in Switzerland and the capital of the canton of Zurich. It is in north-central Switzerland, at the northwestern tip of Lake Zurich. , the municipality had 448,664 inhabitants. The ...

, Switzerland, she had an eleventh place finish at the

2014 European Athletics Championships The 2014 European Athletics Championships was held in Zürich, Switzerland, between 12 and 17 August 2014. It was the first time that Switzerland had hosted the European Athletics Championships since 1954 European Athletics Championships, 1954. G ...

with a best throw of 57.82 metres. She had a seventh place finish at the 2025 World Athletics Championships in Beijing where she threw 62.20 metres. She competed at the

2016 European Athletics Championships The 2016 European Athletics Championships was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 6 and 10 July 2016. It was the first time the Netherlands hosted the event. Due to 2016 being an Olympic year, there was no racewalking and the marathon competi ...

in Amsterdam, Netherlands, but did not qualify for the final. She competed at her third Olympic Games at the 2016 Summer Games in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro, or simply Rio, is the capital of the Rio de Janeiro (state), state of Rio de Janeiro. It is the List of cities in Brazil by population, second-most-populous city in Brazil (after São Paulo) and the Largest cities in the America ...

, but did not qualify for the final.

Personal life

She married Dainis Sprudzāns in

Kuldīga Kuldīga () () is a town in the Courland region of Latvia, in the western part of the country. It is the center of Kuldīga Municipality with a population of approximately 13,500. Kuldīga was first mentioned in 1242. It joined the Hanseatic L ...

in the week after she competed at the 2016 Rio Olympics. After the wedding, the athlete took her husband's surname.

Achievements

Personal bests

References

External links

* 1988 births Living people Athletes from Riga Latvian female javelin throwers Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Latvia World Athletics Championships athletes for Latvia {{Latvia-athletics-bio-stub