Maria Mutola donates Sydney 2000 kit to the IAAF (© c)
Mozambique’s Maria Mutola who garnered the famous nick-name of 'Million Dollar Mutola' when becoming the first ever solo winner of the $1 million Golden League Jackpot in 2003, has donated her Sydney 2000 gold medal winning kit and team uniform to the IAAF humanitarian project Athletics for a Better World.
Mutola, 34, began her exceptional career when at the age of 16 she competed in her first Olympic Games in Seoul 1988. Four years later she finished 5th at the Barcelona Games, before improving to 3rd in Atlanta 1996 and finally winning gold in a superb 800m final at the Sydney 2000 Olympics.
Mutola made her first appearance at an IAAF World Championships 14 years ago in Tokyo, where, at the age of 19 she finished an excellent 4th. She started her incredible series of World Championships medals with the 1993 Stuttgart gold which she backed up with the Athens 1997 bronze and Seville’s 1999 silver. (She was disqualified for a lane infringement at the start of her race in Gothenburg 1995). In both Edmonton 2001 and Paris 2003 she was invincible, and added gold medals to her resume.
Indoors, Mutola holds the incredible record of 6 World Indoor Championships gold medals between 1993 and 2004. Further proof of her longevity stands in the fact that she has won the last four editions of the IAAF World Cup in Havana 1992, London 1994, Johannesburg 1998 and Madrid 2002!
When winning the $1 million Golden League Jackpot in 2003 Mutola donated part of her prize money to the Maria Mutola Foundation which helps develop youngsters back in her native Mozambique.
Mutola’s donations will be auctioned at the end of the year and all profits donated to the United Nations Associations: FAO, UNICEF and WFP.