An incredulous Fani Halkia of Greece after winning the 400m Hurdles (© Getty Images)
A 25yearold girl from Greece, Fani Halkia, was one of the main revelations of the year, achieving the Olympic title at the 400m Hurdles in Athens and a new Olympic record. Despite her impressive races, Halkia’s background and athletics pedigree remains unknown to most.
The new Olympic Champion was born in a coastal village near the city of Larissa, on February 2, 1979. As a youth she started training there, joining the local club “Pelasgos”. She started with the High Jump, but after just a few months moved to the sprints.
Bright beginnings
Halkia’s talent was first acknowledged in the period 1995-1997. In 1995 she clocked 62.37 for the 400m Hurdles and placed 3rd in the European Youth Olympic Festival. Two years later, the 18-year-old girl represented Greece in the Balkan Championships, where she smashed the national junior record for 400m Hurdles with 59.17, a mark which is still the Greek record for this age-group. That year she also ran the 400m flat in a personal best of 56.19, while in 1998 she won the first national title, dominating the 400m Hurdles final with 59.99.
Injuries hit and early retirement taken
The future seemed brilliant for the young hurdler, but things do not always go as an athlete expects. The following years did not match Halkia’s expectations. A series of injuries delayed her progression and in 1999 she was just 11th in the national championships 400m Hurdles. A few months later new injuries came and in a state of tiredness and disappointment, and also influenced by serious financial problems, Halkia decided on an early retirement.
From the track to the television
So instead Halkia started studying and working as reporter, hired as a journalist on one of the most popular political shows on Greek television. It was a period of anonymity. Very few people knew that the young reporter was a national athletics champion, a girl who had been considered a promising athlete just two years before.
However, her friends, many former fellow athletes, never stopped in their efforts to convince her to return.
“She was a talented reporter” says her previous director, in a special show he presented after the Olympics, dedicated to his former colleague. “Fani had never forgotten her past in Athletics. I wondered if I should release her (from her work). It might have been the way to oblige her to think seriously about returning to what she really loved to do”, he added.
Halkia continued with the channel, and after two years in journalism, she decided on her own accord to return to training.
At around 23 years of age she knew that the future lay in her legs, and she decided to work hard at her sport again. She visited Giorgos Panayotopoulos, the former athlete who became internationally known, when he placed fifth in the 200m final in the World Championships in 1997. Panayotopoulos had already started working as coach, and Halkia chose him for her new beginning.
2002 results begin to show
The hard work soon began to give the first promising results. In the 2002 national championships she participated in the flat 400m where she was 3rd with a personal best of 55.46, and then a few days later she participated in the IAAF Grand Prix Meeting in Thessaloniki, and established a 400m Hurdles personal best of 58.80.
In 2003, back on the same track, and at the same meeting in Thessaloniki she broke the national record with 56.40. Her come-back to the top of her country marked the beginning of the new era, which was going to send her to the very top of the world.
“The previous years had seen me work in the TV channel during the day and go clubbing during the nights. After returning to the track I cannot remember anything else other than training,” Halkia confirmed a few days after the Athens Olympics.
A year of glory
The indoor season of 2004 revealed a new star on the world scene. In the World Indoor Championships of Budapest, the unknown Greek twice improved the national record to take the 6th position in the 400m final. Many people noted then her huge strides, especially in the second half of the race.
Her fame spread wider after her win in the European Cup in June, where running rather slowly in the first metres she then swept on to the finishing line in 54.16 to surprise and overwhelm more famous competitors. A serious candidate for the Olympics final had risen.
Two months later, in Athens, she moved herself into serious gold medal consideration, when she smashed the Olympic record in the semi-final with 52.72.
“I am in tremendous shape", said Halkia after winning in Athens by the biggest margin of victory in the past five Olympics. "I entered the stadium saying that there is no chance to lose the gold. The crowd created an unbelievable atmosphere. I thought that an earthquake was happening when I entered the last metres of the final”.
World title – World record
There is no doubt that the Olympic win is the crowning achievement of any athlete’s career, but very few make do with it, especially when they are so young. So after a long period of holiday, Halkia has now returned to training with the other members of Panayotopoulos’ team.
The challenge of the World Championships in Helsinki next summer is now the new objective, but this time her plans do not include participation in any indoor meetings.
Halkia reached the top and now wants go on with the World title but it seems this is not the only objective.
“Fani could run the (flat) 400m in a time around 49 seconds, although she prefers the hurdles. We must include some 400m races in our programme though. Next year we plan to participate in more races, where we’ll have the possibility to attempt the 400m Hurdles World record”, Panayotopoulos had said just after the Olympics.
After the brilliant Olympic Games, Halkia is now on the national centre stage undertaking the responsibility not only to continue the improvement of Athletics in her country, but also to exemplify a fighting spirit for the future champions.
Michalis Nikitaridis for the IAAF
Halkia is third equal in the IAAF World Ranking for her Event.
