Editing Maria Mutola (section)

===Athletic domination===
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Over the next few years, Mutola dominated the 800 m event, winning the 800 m title at the [[1993 IAAF World Indoor Championships|1993]] and [[1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships|1995 World Indoor Championships]] and the [[1993 World Championships in Athletics|1993 World Championships]]. At the latter event, held in [[Stuttgart]], she won by over two seconds, the biggest ever winning margin in an international women's 800 m final.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}} A favourite for the world outdoor title in 1995 as well, she was disqualified in her semi-final for stepping outside of her lane. Some consolation came at the [[Memorial Van Damme]] meeting in Brussels a few weeks after the World Championships, when she broke the world record for [[1000 metres|1000 m]] with a time of 2:29.34, becoming the first woman ever to run the distance in less than two and a half minutes. She also went on to break the world indoor record for 1000 m.{{citation needed|date=August 2016}}  She also went undefeated (3-0) vs that years World Champion [[Ana Quirot]], including crushing Quirot at the season ending Grand Prix final where she finished 1st to Quirot's 5th.

Her immense success and her total domination of the event during this period can be attributed to the guidance that she has received since 1991 from [[Margo Jennings]]. Jennings was a track coach at Springfield High School and continued to coach Mutola, even when she had relocated from Oregon to [[Johannesburg]] to escape the high pollen count in Oregon. Jennings would fax Mutola's training schedules to her in South Africa, and has also coached other world class 800 m runners like [[Kelly Holmes]], Namibian athlete [[Agnes Samaria]] and [[Tina Paulino]], who is a distant relative of Mutola's.

At the [[1996 Summer Olympics]] in [[Atlanta]], Mutola was a hot favourite for the gold, as she hadn't been beaten in an 800 m final since 1992 and her winning streak stretched to over forty 800 m and 1000 m finals. However, suffering from flu, she ended up finishing third behind surprise winner [[Svetlana Masterkova]] and Ana Quirot. The Russians had also used team tactics with Masterkova's teammate and Britain's Kelly Holmes working to box in both Quirot and Mutola with Masterkova in front, leaving them too much ground to make up near the end. Later in 1996 Mutola lost her world 1000 m record to Masterkova in a hard-fought head-to-head duel.

Mutola was known as the complete package as an 800-metre runner. She had tremendous strength, and would turn in numerous impressive 1500 metres performances through her career. She had blazing speed, and a very strong finishing kick. She also was a smart and calculated tactical racer, who understood her competitors and their strengths and weaknesses well, and how to position herself throughout a race. She was comfortable running and winning races from either the front or the back. Most of all she had an unwavering determination to win, rarely ever matched in women's middle-distance running.