Editing Maria Mutola (section)

===Status in 800 m race history===
{{BLP sources section|date=February 2019}}
Mutola is often ranked as one of the greatest female 800&nbsp;m runners of all time, and to some even the best. She has not gained a world record in the event, but her consistency, her performances at major championships and her ability to compete at the highest levels of the sport for two decades are unmatched – the [[2008 Olympics]] were her sixth consecutive Olympics. She does however have a 0–4 record against her rival Ana Quirot in World and Olympic competition, and Quirot ran sub-1:55 twice vs. Mutola's career best of 1:55.16.<ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www.alltime-athletics.com/w_800ok.htm|title = Women's 800m}}</ref>  In terms of global championship gold medals however, Mutola bests Quirot in Olympic titles (1–0), outdoor World titles (3-2) and indoor World titles (7-0).   Mutola and Quirot are good friends to this day and often write one another, and Mutola often wrote Quirot letters of encouragement to return to Track and Field following her near fatal heavy burn explosion.

Mutola won [[Bronze medal|bronze]] in the 1997 [[IAAF World Championships in Athletics]] and silver in 1999. She also won the [[IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics]] in 1997, only weeks after her father had been killed in a car accident. She raced wearing a black ribbon and dedicated the victory to his memory. In total she has won nine world 800&nbsp;m titles, including both indoor and outdoor championships. She won the [[Commonwealth Games]] twice, after Mozambique was admitted to the [[Commonwealth of Nations|Commonwealth]] in 1995, and has also won the [[IAAF World Cup]] event, representing the Africa team, four times consecutively.

Her greatest moment, though, came at the [[Sydney Olympics]] in 2000, when Mutola finally won Olympic gold. She beat her major rival [[Stephanie Graf]] and Kelly Holmes. She returned to Mozambique after her Olympic victory, huge crowds came to cheer her and a road was named after her in Maputo.

She continued her successes in the 2001 season, grabbing the world title in [[Edmonton]] and again in 2003 in Paris. It was widely felt that Mutola ran tactically during the 2003 race by setting a slow pace in order to aid her training partner Kelly Holmes. As a result of such a strategy Holmes was able to take silver. Mutola was unbeaten throughout 2003 and grabbed the headlines again that year, at the Memorial Van Damme race in Belgium. By winning here, it meant that she became sole winner of the [[2003 IAAF Golden League]] one million dollar jackpot, awarded to athletes who remained undefeated in all six competitions in the season. She put part of her winnings towards the foundation that she had established in her name in Mozambique.

Aiming to become the first woman to successfully defend the Olympic 800&nbsp;m title in 2004, her fifth Olympics, Mutola ended up finishing fourth. Despite carrying a hamstring injury, Mutola was in the gold medal position until the final few metres, when three athletes passed her, including the eventual champion, her former training partner Kelly Holmes. In 2005, her injuries were still lingering and she suffered several losses to opponents she would normally easily beat. Mutola finished fourth in the 800 m at the 2005 World Championships in Helsinki; third-place winner [[Tatyana Andrianova]] was retroactively suspended for a doping violation in 2015. A later test invalidated Andrianova's results from 9 August 2005 through 8 August 2007. On April 14, 2016, the [[Court of Arbitration for Sport]] (CAS) overturned Andrianova's two-year doping suspension because her sample had been re-tested beyond the eight-year statute of limitations. "As the eight-year statute of limitations had expired prior to January 1, 2015, the 10-year statute of limitations provided under the new 2015 anti-doping rules cannot apply", CAS said in a statement.<ref name="doping">{{cite web |author=Last Updated: 14/04/16 5:15pm |url=http://www.skysports.com/more-sports/athletics/news/29175/10242831/russian-runner-tatyana-andrianova-wins-cas-doping-appeal |title=Russian runner Tatyana Andrianova wins CAS doping appeal &#124; Athletics News |publisher=Sky Sports |date=2015-01-01 |access-date=2016-08-06}}</ref>

Mutola parted amicably with her coach Margo Jennings, before returning to good form in 2006, when she won the World Indoor Championships title for a record seventh time. At the [[2007 IAAF World Championships]], Mutola was in contention for a medal entering into the home straight, but pulled out of the race in the dying metres.

In 2008, the 800 metres [[African records in athletics|African record]] held by Mutola, was beaten by the young [[Pamela Jelimo]] of Kenya.<ref name="berlin">IAAF, June 1, 2008: [http://www.iaaf.org/GLE08/news/newsid=45140.html Berlin witnesses Jelimo, 800m revelation]</ref> Mutola had decided that the [[2008 Olympic Games]] would be her last major championships, and she finished fifth in the [[Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres|800 metres Olympic final]]. She publicly called an end to her 21-year-long athletics career at the [[Weltklasse Zürich]] meeting immediately after the Olympics. She finished fourth with a run of 1:58.71 in the 800&nbsp;m, again behind Jelimo, who completed a symbolic feat by beating Mutola's meet record which had stood since 1994.<ref name="iaaf2008">{{cite news |last1=Powell |first1=David |title=Mutola bids farewell in Zürich – ÅF Golden League |url=https://www.iaaf.org/news/news/mutola-bids-farewell-in-zurich-af-golden-le |access-date=12 September 2016 |work=IAAF.org |date=29 August 2008}}</ref>

Her appearance at the [[2008 Olympics]] made her only the fourth female [[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|track and field]] athlete to compete at six Olympics, after [[Lia Manoliu]] (discus), [[Tessa Sanderson]] (javelin/heptathlon), and seven-time Olympian  [[Merlene Ottey]] (sprints).