Siv Gustavsson

Siv Gustavsson
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Sweden
IAAF World Race Walking Cup
1981 Valencia 5 km walk
European Athletics Championships
1986 Stuttgart 10 km walk

Siv Gustavsson[nb] (born 9 July 1957) is a Swedish former racewalking athlete.[1][2] She was the gold medallist at the 1981 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, making her the second ever female world champion in the sport.

Gustavsson also won a bronze at the 1986 European Athletics Championships – the first year women's walks were held at that event. She won fifteen Swedish national titles from 1976 to 2004 over disatnce from 3000 m to 20 km.[3]

Career

She began to emerge as a walker internationally in the early 1970s, starting with a third place at the Nordic Race Walking Championships junior race in 1971, then two consecutive wins in the category in 1973 and 1975. Her first senior title at the event came over 5 km in 1977, when she beat Britt Holmquist and Norway's Thorill Gylder.[4]

The 1975 IAAF World Race Walking Cup and 1977 IAAF World Race Walking Cup both featured invitational, non-official women's races and she showed herself to be among the world's best with a runner-up finish to fellow Swede Margareta Simu at the first race, then beating both Simu and Carol Tyson to win the 1977 race.[5]

She missed the first official women's championship in racewalking held in 1979. She competed at the WAAA Championships in Britain in 1980 and was runner-up to Irene Bateman over 5000 m.[6] Her career peaked at the 1981 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, where she became the second ever women's world champion in racewalking, defeating the whole field by nearly twenty seconds.[5] The Swedish team (including Ann Jansson, Ann-Marie Larsson and Britt Holmqvist) was narrowly beaten by one point to the women's team title.[7]

She attempted to defend her title at the 1983 IAAF World Race Walking Cup, but ending the competition in fifth place. Wit Gustavsson being their top performer, Sweden's women also fell down the team rankings into fourth place.[5] She appeared at the 1986 European Athletics Championships and in the 10 km walk—the first ever to be held for women at the European Championships—she ranked third for a bronze medal behind Spanish athlete Marí Cruz Díaz and Ann Jansson.[8]

She married fellow race walker Enrique Vera Ibáñez, who migrated from his native Mexico to settle with her in Sweden. Her husband gained Swedish citizenship and later represented his adoptive country at the 1991 World Championships in Athletics.[9] The couple had a child in 1985, Ato Ibáñez, who himself has since gone on to represent Sweden in race walking. The couple were later divorced.[10]

Gustavsson continued on as a walker and was the over-45 European Indoor champion in 2005 and broke the over-50s world record in the indoor 3000 m in 2012.[11][12]

National titles

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
1975 IAAF World Race Walking Cup (unofficial) Le Grand-Quevilly, France 2nd 5 km walk 24:33
2nd Team 70 pts
1977 IAAF World Race Walking Cup (unofficial) Milton Keynes, United Kingdom 1st 5 km walk 23:19
1981 IAAF World Race Walking Cup Valencia, Spain 1st 5 km walk 22:56.9
2nd Team 104 pts
1983 IAAF World Race Walking Cup Bergen, Norway 5th 10 km walk 46:21
4th Team 118 pts
1986 European Championships Stuttgart, West Germany 3rd 10 km walk 46:19

Notes

References

  1. ↑ Siw Ibanez. All Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  2. ↑ Siv Gustavsson profile at IAAF
  3. ↑ Swedish Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  4. ↑ Nordic Race Walking Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  5. 1 2 3 IAAF WORLD RACE WALKING CUP - SARANSK 2012 - FACTS & FIGURES. IAAF. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  6. ↑ AAA Championships (Women). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  7. ↑ World and Continental Race Walking Championships and Cups. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  8. ↑ European Championships (Women). GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  9. ↑ Men 50km Walk World Championship 1991 Tokyo (JPN) - Saturday 31.08. Todor66. Retrieved on 2014-02-22.
  10. ↑ SWEDISH TEAM – MEDIA GUIDE. IAAF World Championships in Athletics – Daegu 2011. Swedish Athletics Federation. Retrieved on 2014-02-22.
  11. ↑ Redebo, Susanne (2012-03-14). Siw slog världsrekord i gång (Swedish). Ekuriren. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
  12. ↑ European Veterans Indoor Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2015-07-20.
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