Nafissatou Thiam biography: 13 things about Olympic athlete born in Namur, Belgium

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Nafissatou Thiam is a Senegalese-Belgian athlete who specializes in multievent competition. Her nickname is Nafi.

Born in Namur, Wallonia, Belgium to a Senegalese father and a Belgian mother, Thiam is a resident of Liege, Wallonia. Here are 13 more things about Thiam:

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1. She earned her bachelor’s degree in geography from the University of Liege.
2. She is 6’0″ tall. Her registered weight is 152 lbs.
3. In 2001, she started participating in athletics.
4. In July 2011, she finished fourth in the heptathlon at the 7th World Youth Championships in Athletics in Lille Métropole, France.
5. In July 2012, she finished 14th in the heptathlon at the 14th World Junior Championships in Athletics in Barcelona, Catalonia, Spain.
6. In 2013, We Are Many founders Helena Van der Plaetsen and Kim Vanderlinden started working with her. On July 18, 2013, she won gold in the heptathlon at the 22nd European Athletics Junior Championships in Rieti, Italy.
7. In 2014, she won bronze in the heptathlon at the European Championships.
8. In 2015, she won gold in both long jump and high jump at the Belgian National Championships and silver in the pentathlon at the European Championships. In the same year, she was named Belgian Sportswoman of the Year.
9. In 2016, she won gold in the pentathlon and in long jump at the Belgian National Championships. In the same year, she was named Belgian Sportswoman of the Year, International Amateur Athletic Federation (IAAF) Rising Star of the Year and European Athletics Rising Star of the Year. Representing Belgium she won gold in the heptathlon at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on August 13, 2016.
10. In 2017, she won gold in the pentathlon at the European Championships. In the same year, she was Belgian Sportswoman of the Year and IAAF Female World Athlete of the Year and she became a United Nations Children’s Emergency Fund (UNICEF) Ambassador. On August 6, 2017, she won gold in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships in London, England, making her the first Belgian to win a World Athletics Championships gold medal.
11. In 2018, she won gold in long jump at the Belgian National Championships. On August 10, 2018, she gold in the heptathlon at the European Championships in Berlin, Germany.
12. In 2019, she won silver in the heptathlon at the World Athletics Championships in Doha, Qatar.
13. On March 5, 2021, she won gold in the pentathlon at the 2021 European European Athletics Indoor Championships in Torun, Kuyavian-Pomeranian, Poland. She was 26 years old when she represented Belgium at the 2020 Summer Olympics, which was held in Tokyo, Japan from July 23, 2021 to August 8, 2021. On August 5, 2021, she won gold in the heptathlon.

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