 Martina at the2012 European Athletics Championships inHelsinki | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Nationality | Dutch | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born | (1984-07-03)3 July 1984 (age 41) Willemstad, Netherlands Antilles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 74 kg (163 lb) | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Country | Netherlands | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Sport | Athletics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 100 metres,200 metres | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Achievements and titles | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Personalbests | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Churandy Thomas Martina (born 3 July 1984) is a retired[1] Dutchsprinter. He originally placed second in the200 metres at the2008 Beijing Olympics but was later disqualified due to a lane violation. Martina secured four and two individual top-five finishes at theSummer Olympics andWorld Athletics Championships respectively. He was the100 metres2007 Pan American Games champion representing theNetherlands Antilles and claimed three individual titles at theCentral American and Caribbean Games. He won gold medals in the 200 m and 100 m at the2012 and2016 European Athletics Championships respectively.
Martina is theDutch national record holder for the 100 and 200. His 100 m 9.91-second record was set at the2012 London Olympics semi-final and 200 m 19.81-second record was achieved at theDiamond League meeting inLausanne, Switzerland in 2016. He won 13 Dutch national titles. Martina hails fromCuraçao and represented the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution in 2010.
Born inWillemstad,Curaçao, Martina began his international career at the youth level, reaching the100 metres semifinals of the1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics. Moving up to the junior level, he ran at theWorld Junior Championships in Athletics in 2000 and 2002, although he was less successful at that level. His first gold came in the 100 m at the2002 South American Games inBelém, Brazil.[2] He improved his personal best to 10.29 seconds in 2003,[3] and represented the Netherlands Antilles at the2003 CAC Championships (setting a personal best in the heats), and also competed at the2003 Pan American Games (reaching the semis). He made his first appearance on the world stage at the2003 World Championships in Athletics, although he was eliminated in the heats of the100 metres.[4]
He made his first Olympic appearance as one of three competitors representing theNetherlands Antilles at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He bore their flag in theopening ceremony. The 2004 season also saw much improvement in his times as he knocked 0.16 off his previous year's personal record with a 10.13-second run inSanto Domingo.[3] Martina won the 100 m bronze medal at the2005 Central American and Caribbean Championships and also anchored the Netherlands Antilles team to anational record time in the 4 × 100 metres relay to win a silver medal.[5][6] He led the team to the final at the2005 World Championships in Athletics and improved the national record further to 38.45 seconds for sixth place.[7] He competed in the individual 100 m but was knocked out in the second round.[3]
The following year he ran a Games record to win the 100 mgold medal at the2006 Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC Games).[8] He also led the relay team to victory for his second gold medal of the tournament. He improved his personal best to 10.04 seconds that year with a run inEl Paso, Texas.[3] He had success at continental level in July 2007 when he won the gold medal at the2007 Pan American Games in the 100 metres, having already run aGames record-equalling time in the qualifiers.[9] He finished fifth in the finals of both the 100 m and 200 m at the2007 World Championships inOsaka,Japan. He ended the year with a sixth-place finish in the 100 m at the2007 IAAF World Athletics Final.[3]
He bore the national flag for the second consecutive time at the2008 Summer Olympics inBeijing. In the second round of heats he set a new national record in the 100 m, running below ten seconds for the first time in his career with a time of 9.99 s. In the semi-finals he finished third in his race behindAsafa Powell andRichard Thompson, but improved the national record to 9.94 s. He qualified for the final in which he came close to the medals, finishing in fourth place behindUsain Bolt, Thompson andWalter Dix. Whilst he left the final without a medal, he had cause for celebration as he broke the national record for a third time, finishing in 9.93 s.[10]
On 20 August 2008, he originally placed second in the 200 m at the Olympics, finishing behindUsain Bolt with a time of 19.82 s. This would have been both a national record and the second-ever Olympic medal for the Netherlands Antilles afterJan Boersma's silver in the1988 Summer Olympics inSeoul. However he was disqualified an hour after the race for a lane violation. AmericanWallace Spearmon, who had initially placed third, was disqualified moments after the race for having stepped on his inside lane line during the race. The American coaches appealed the decision and upon viewing footage of Spearmon's offence they noticed that Martina had committed the same infraction. They dropped their appeal for Spearmon in favour of a successful protest against Martina. As a result of the disqualifications,Shawn Crawford andWalter Dix, both of the United States, were promoted to silver and bronze respectively.[11]
However, on 24 August, the Netherlands Antilles filed an appeal to theCourt of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate Martina's medal, arguing that the American protest came after the 30-minute deadline for protests and appeals set by theInternational Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and also that they had their own video footage (not the official Olympic video footage) showing that Martina never left his lane.[11] On 6 March 2009, the CAS rejected the appeal against Martina's disqualification.[12]Shawn Crawford, who had been awarded the Olympic silver medal, reportedly gave his medal to Martina on 28 August 2008.[13]
At the start of the 2009 outdoor season, Martina set a world-leading time of 9.97 seconds in the 100 m at theFanny Blankers-Koen Games; the fourth time he had finished with a sub-ten-second time.[14] He could not build upon his Olympic success at the2009 World Championships in Athletics and only reached the quarter-finals of the men's 100 m. He was sixth at the2009 IAAF World Athletics Final—the competition's final edition. He defended his regional title at the2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, holding off a challenge fromDaniel Bailey to win in 10.07 seconds—just one hundredth off his championship record.[15]
After thedissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, Martina has represented the Netherlands in2011 World Championships and2012 European Championships, where he won gold in 200 metres and 4 × 100 metre relay.
Martina competed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, again in his three disciplines, the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metre relay. Only narrowly making it through to the 100-metre semi-final, Martina improved his personal best in the semi-final to 9.91. This race was also the fastest ever semi-final run, with Justin Gatlin running 9.82. In the final, Martina placed sixth behind Usain Bolt, posting 9.94. Martina then competed in the 200 m, where he finished in fifth, again behind Bolt, in 20 seconds flat. In the relay, the Netherlands finished sixth in a time of 38.39. However, after the Olympics, Martina broke the 200 m national record in Lausanne, lowering the time to 19.85, ending his reasonably successful season.
In 2016, Martina won theEuropean Championships 100 metres before a home crowd. The following day, he crossed the line in first place in the200 metres, but was denied the sprint double because he crossed inside of his lane line again, giving the win toBruno Hortelano.
All information fromWorld Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.[3]
| Event | Time (s) | Venue | Date | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 30 metres indoor | 3.81 | Leeuwarden, Netherlands | 14 November 2008 | World best |
| 60 metres indoor | 6.58 | Stuttgart, Germany | 6 February 2010 | NR |
| 100 metres | 9.91 | London, United Kingdom | 5 August 2012 | NR |
| 200 metres | 19.81 | Lausanne, Switzerland | 25 August 2016 | NR |
| 400 metres | 46.13 | El Paso, TX, United States | 31 March 2007 | NR |
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Time | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing Netherlands Antilles (until 2010) | ||||||
| 2000 | CARIFTA Games | St. George's, Grenada, Grenada | 2nd | 100 m | 10.73 | (+1.5 m/s) |
| 2nd | 200 m | 21.73 | (+1.7 m/s) | |||
| World Junior Championships | Santiago, Chile | 36th (h) | 100 m | 10.77 | (+0.8 m/s) | |
| DSQ | 200 m | DQ | ||||
| 2002 | World Junior Championships | Kingston, Jamaica | 19th (qf) | 100 m | 10.52 | w(+2.6 m/s) |
| South American Games | Belém, Brazil | 1st | 100 m | 10.42 | (+0.8 m/s) | |
| 2nd | 200 m | 20.81 | (+1.1 m/s) | |||
| Central American and Caribbean Games | San Salvador, El Salvador | 8th | 100 m | 10.55 | w(+2.1 m/s) | |
| 8th | 200 m | 21.89 | (-0.4 m/s) | |||
| 6th | 4 × 100 m relay | 42.14 | ||||
| 2003 | CARIFTA Games | Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago | 2nd | 100 m | 10.37 | w(+3.8 m/s) |
| World Championships | Paris, France | 5th (h) | 100 m | 10.35 | (-0.6 m/s) | |
| 2004 | South American U23 Championships | Barquisimeto, Venezuela | 1st[17] | 4 × 100 m relay | 39.18 | |
| NACAC U-23 Championships | Sherbrooke, Canada | 1st | 100 m | 10.21 | (+0.1 m/s) | |
| 2nd | 200 m | 20.75 | (+0.0 m/s) | |||
| Olympic Olympics | Athens, Greece | 7th (qf) | 100 m | 10.48 | (0.0 m/s) | |
| 2005 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 6th (qf) | 100 m | 10.24 | (-1.2 m/s) |
| 6th | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.45 | ||||
| CAC Championships | Nassau, Bahamas | 3rd | 100 m | 10.10 | (+1.9 m/s) | |
| 2006 | Central American and Caribbean Games | Cartagena, Colombia | 1st | 100 m | 10.06 s | (+0.6 m/s)CR |
| 1st | 4 × 100 m relay | 39.29 | ||||
| 2007 | Pan American Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 1st | 100 m | 10.15 | (+1.0 m/s) |
| World Championships | Osaka, Japan | 5th | 100 m | 10.08 | (-0.5 m/s) | |
| 5th | 200 m | 20.28 | (-0.8 m/s) | |||
| 2008 | Olympic Games | Beijing, China | 4th | 100 m | 9.93 | (+0.0 m/s) |
| DSQ | 200 m | DQ | ||||
| 2009 | World Championships | Berlin, Germany | 4th (qf) | 100 m | 10.19 | (+0.1 m/s) |
| 2010 | World Indoor Championships | Doha, Qatar | 8th (sf) | 60 m | 6.65 | |
| Central American and Caribbean Games | Mayagüez, Puerto Rico | 1st | 100 m | 10.07 | (+0.7 m/s) | |
| 1st | 200 m | 20.25 | (+0.0 m/s) | |||
| 3rd | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.82 | ||||
| 2010 | 2010 IAAF Continental Cup | Split, Croatia | 2nd | 200 m | 20.47 | |
Representing Netherlands (since 2011) | ||||||
| 2011 | World Championships | Daegu, South Korea | 18th (sf) | 100 m | 10.29 | (-0.8 m/s) |
| – (sf) | 200 m | DNS | ||||
| 2012 | European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 1st | 200 m | 20.42 | (-0.9 m/s) |
| 1st | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.34 | ||||
| Olympic Games | London, United Kingdom | 6th | 100 m | 9.94 | (+1.5 m/s) | |
| 5th | 200 m | 20.00 | (+0.4 m/s) | |||
| 6th | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.39 | ||||
| 2014 | European Championships | Zurich, Switzerland | 9th (sf) | 100 m | 10.34 | (+0.6 m/s) |
| 4th | 200 m | 20.37 | (-1.6 m/s) | |||
| 5th | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.60 | ||||
| 2015 | World Championships | Beijing, China | 16th (sf) | 100 m | 10.09 | (-0.4 m/s) |
| 10th (sf) | 200 m | 20.20 | (+0.4 m/s) | |||
| 2016 | World Indoor Championships | Portland, OR, United States | 22nd (h) | 60 m | 6.67 | |
| European Championships | Amsterdam, Netherlands | 1st | 100 m | 10.07 | (0.0 m/s) | |
| DSQ | 200 m | 20.37 | (-0.9 m/s) | |||
| 4th | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.57 | ||||
| Olympic Games | Rio de Janeiro, Brazil | 26th (h) | 100 m | 10.22 | (-0.5 m/s) | |
| 5th | 200 m | 20.13 | (-0.5 m/s) | |||
| 2017 | World Relays | Nassau, Bahamas | 4th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.71 | [note 1] |
| 2018 | European Championships | Berlin, Germany | 6th | 100 m | 10.16 | (0.0 m/s) |
| 10th (sf) | 200 m | 20.51 | (+0.3 m/s) | |||
| 3rd | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.03 | ||||
| 2019 | World Relays | Yokohama, Japan | 10th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.67 | |
| World Championships | Doha, Qatar | 7th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 37.91 | [note 2] | |
| 2021 | World Relays | Chorzów, Poland | 5th (h) | 4 × 100 m relay | 38.79 | |
| Olympic Games | Tokyo, Japan | – | 4 × 100 m relay | DNF | ||
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Men'sDutch Athlete of the Year 2012 2016 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Succeeded by | |
| Olympic Games | ||
| Preceded by | Flagbearer for Netherlands Antilles Athens 2004 Beijing 2008 | Netherlands Antilles withdrew fromIOC in 2011 |
| Preceded by | Flagbearer for Netherlands Tokyo 2020 With:Keet Oldenbeuving | Most recent |
European Athletics Championships champions in men's100 metres | |
|---|---|
|
European Athletics Championships champions in men's200 metres | |
|---|---|
|
| International | |
|---|---|
| National | |
| People | |
