Background
Thiam, daughter of a Belgian mother and a Senegalese father, is a member of RFCL, an athletics club from Liège, and is coached by Roger Lespagnard.
Thiam, daughter of a Belgian mother and a Senegalese father, is a member of RFCL, an athletics club from Liège, and is coached by Roger Lespagnard.
At the 2011 World Youth Championships in Athletics in Lille, France, she finished fourth in the heptathlon with a total of 5366 points. As a first-year junior, she finished 14th at the 2012 World Junior Championships in Athletics in the heptathlon.
This record could not be ratified, because the compulsory anti-doping control could not be organized in time. She studies geography at the University of Liège. Nafissatou Thiam started with athletics when she was seven years old.
On 3 February 2013, Thiam broke the junior indoor world record on the pentathlon at a meeting in Ghent.
Thiam totalled 4558 points, breaking her personal best on 4 of the 5 events. She is the first Belgian woman athlete ever to break a world record.
60 metres hurdles: 8.63 s
100 metres hurdles: 13.81 s
Long jump: 6.37 m
High jump: 1.94 m (indoor), 1.97 (outdoor)
200 m: 24.78 s
Shot put: 15.03 m
Javelin throw: 51.90 m
800 m: 2:21.18 (indoor), 2:20.79 (outdoor)
Heptathlon: 6508 points
Pentathlon: 4558 points (indoor).
She won her first national age group titles in 2009, when she was already participating in the heptathlon. Carolina Klüft, who later became Olympic champion and triple world champion, had held the record since 2002 with 4535 points. However, in March 2013, the record was eventually not approved, because of a lack of anti-doping control on the day she achieved lieutenant lieutenant took place the next day, which was beyond the deadline. On 18 July 2013 Thiam won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the European Junior Athletics Championships, achieving a new Belgian record score of 6298 points.
