Maria Manuela Machado (born 9 August 1963 in Viana do Castelo) is a former Portuguese long-distance runner, who was particularly successful when running the marathon. Unlike many other marathoners, she did not focus on running lucrative city marathons. Instead, she participated in major competitions (which were less monetarily profitable).

Manuela Machado
Personal information
Born9 August 1963 (1963-08-09) (age 61)
Viana do Castelo, Portugal
Medal record
Women's Athletics
Representing  Portugal
World Championships
Gold medal – first place 1995 Gothenburg Marathon
Silver medal – second place 1993 Stuttgart Marathon
Silver medal – second place 1997 Athens Marathon
European Championships
Gold medal – first place 1994 Helsinki Marathon
Gold medal – first place 1998 Budapest Marathon

Machado participated in the marathon in every major competition between 1990 and 2000. In her first major competition, the 1990 European Championships in Athletics in Split, she placed tenth. She placed seventh in both the 1991 World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo and the 1992 Summer Olympics in Barcelona. Machado won her first medal in a major competition in the 1993 World Championships in Athletics in Stuttgart when she came in second in the marathon.[1][2] She won the 1994 European Championships in Helsinki and the 1995 World Championships in Gothenburg. In the 1996 Summer Olympics in Atlanta, she once again placed seventh.

At the 1997 World Championships in Athens, Machado once again won a silver medal. The next year, in Budapest, she won the European Championships again. Although she placed seventh in the 1999 World Championships in Seville, she only managed a 21st place in the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney.

Machado represented the Sporting Clube de Braga. She ran her personal best (2:25.09) in the London Marathon in 1999 (and was the third woman to cross the finish line). Machado continued Portugal's successful run in the marathon that Rosa Mota had started. The women's marathon has been part of the European Championships since 1982, and the first time that a non-Portuguese marathoner won the European Championships was at the 2002 European Championships in Munich when Maria Guida of Italy won.

Achievements

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Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing   Portugal
1990 European Championships Split, SFR Yugoslavia 10th Marathon 2:39:49
1991 World Championships Tokyo, Japan 7th Marathon 2:32:33
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 7th Marathon 2:38:22
1993 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 2nd Marathon 2:30:54
Lisbon Marathon Lisbon, Portugal 1st Marathon 2:31:31
1994 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 1st Marathon 2:29.54
1995 World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 1st Marathon 2:25:39
1996 Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 7th Marathon 2:31:11
1997 World Championships Athens, Greece 2nd Marathon 2:31:12
1998 Ibero-American Championships Lisbon, Portugal 3rd 10,000 m 33:14.60
European Championships Budapest, Hungary 1st Marathon 2:27:10
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 7th Marathon 2:29:11
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 21st Marathon 2:32:29

References

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  1. ^ Moorcroft, Dave; Foster, Brendan (15 August 1993). "1993 World Championships". BBC. 27 minutes 50 seconds. London, England: posted by Basil Sage as '4230 World Track & Field 1993 Marathon Women' as first in a series of digitized (from VHS) videos for the full marathon (published 14 September 2017). Archived from the original on 26 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023 – via YouTube.
  2. ^ Moorcroft, Dave; Foster, Brendan (15 August 1993). "1993 World Championships". BBC. 7 minutes 20 seconds. London, England: posted by Basil Sage as '4253 World Track & Field 1993 Marathon Women' as last in a series of digitized (from VHS) videos for the full marathon (published 11 October 2017). Archived from the original on 26 July 2023. Retrieved 26 July 2023 – via YouTube.
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