 Hejnová after her win at the2013 World Championships in Athletics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | (1986-12-19)19 December 1986 (age 38) Liberec,Czechoslovakia |
| Height | 1.70 m (5 ft 7 in) |
| Weight | 63 kg (139 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Country | Czech Republic |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 400 m hurdles,400 m,100 m hurdles |
| Retired | 2022 |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Olympic finals |
|
| World finals |
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| Personalbests |
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Medal record | |
Zuzana Hejnová (Czech pronunciation:[ˈzuzanaˈɦɛjnovaː]; born 19 December 1986[1]) is a retired Czechathlete who specialised in the400 metres hurdles. She won the silver medal in the event at the2012 London Olympics. Hejnová is a two-time World Champion, having claimed titles at the2013 and2015 World Championships in Athletics. She won bronze at the2012 European Championships and silver for the400 metres at the2017 European Indoor Championships.
At age 16, Hejnová earned the gold medal in her specialist event at the2003 World Under-18 Championships to take a silver at the2004 World U20 Championships. She also won bronze and gold at the2003 and2005 European U20 Championships respectively. She is a two-timeDiamond League 400 m hurdles winner. Hejnová is theCzech record holder for the 400 m hurdles, and also holds national best in the300 m hurdles. She is a four-time Czech outdoor champion (400 m, 400 m hurdles) and an eight-time national indoor champion (200 m, 400 m,pentathlon).
Her sister,Michaela, is also an Olympic athlete.[2]
In 2003, Zuzana Hejnová competed at the2003 World Youth Championships in Athletics atSherbrooke, Canada and won the gold medal in the 400-metre hurdles with a time of 57.54. A year later, she returned atGrosseto, Italy at the2004 World Junior Championships. This time she won the silver with a time of 57.44 in the 400 m hurdles, defeated by the Russian,Ekaterina Kostetskaya, who won gold by a large margin at 55.55 seconds.
Her current personal bests are 14.11 in the 100m achieved atOstrava on 3 September 2005; 13.77 in the 100 metres hurdles atStará Boleslav on 13 June 2003; 53.04 in the 400 m atKladno on 28 June 2008; and 54.90 in the 400 m hurdles recorded at Monaco on 28 July 2009.
In early March 2008 Hejnová competed in the 400 metres at the2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships and reached the semi-finals but did not qualify to reach the final. She did however, reach the final with the Czech relay team in the4 × 400 metres relay in a team which included her,Zuzana Bergrová,Denisa Ščerbová, andJitka Bartoničková. They finished 4th, with a time of 3:34.53, but were over 5 seconds slower than the Americans who took bronze with a time of 3:29.30.
On 21 June 2008, she competed for the Czech Republic at the2008 European Cup in Athletics.
Hejnová competed in the400 metres hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She qualified for the second round with the thirteenth fastest overall time of 55.91 seconds and for the final with 55.17. In the final she finished seventh with 54.97, only one hundredth behind her personal best at the time.
She won the 400 metres hurdles at theEuropean Team Championships with a new national record of 53.87 seconds.[3]On 8 July 2011 she improved her national record to 53.29 seconds.[4]
At the2012 London Olympics, Hejnová won originally the bronze medal for the women's 400 m hurdles, behind the winner, Russia'sNatalya Antyukh, andLashinda Demus of the United States.
In 2019, following a re-test of doping samples, Antyukh was disqualified with all her results 2013 onward deleted but her 2012 Olympic results were not affected.[5][6][7] In October 2022, Antyukh's results from 15 July 2012 on were retroactively voided. In December, it was announced that she had been stripped of her title and Demus would be upgraded to gold in her place, with Hejnová then second.[8]
Hejnová wonDiamond League races over 400 m Hurdles in Shanghai (53.79), Eugene (53.70), Oslo (53.60), Paris (53.23 NR), and London (53.07 NR). She also won races in Des Moines (54.41), Prague (54.55) and Ostrava (53.32). She secured maximum points for Czech Republic in the European Team Championships First League in Dublin by winning the 400 m in 51.90 seconds. On 15 August 2013 in Moscow, Hejnová became World Champion over 400 m hurdles with a new Czech record (52.83 NR).
Despite winning her semi-final,[9] Hejnová came fourth in the400-metre hurdles at the 2016 Olympic Games inRio de Janeiro.[10]
She threatened to sueCzech Post for 1 millionkoruna over the use of her likeness on astamp celebrating the2016 Olympic Games.[11] The Court of Appeal found in favour of Hejnová, leading to Czech Post paying her an undisclosed settlement.[12]
All information fromWorld Athletics profile.[1]
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2013,2015
| Awards | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Women's European Athlete of the Year 2013 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Czech Athlete of the Year 2013 2015 | Succeeded by |
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| International | |
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| National | |
| People | |
