Churandy Martina

Churandy Thomas Martina (born 3 July 1984) is a retired Dutch sprinter. He originally placed second in the 200 metres at the 2008 Beijing Olympics but was later disqualified due to a lane violation. Martina secured four and two individual top-five finishes at the Summer Olympics and World Athletics Championships respectively. He was the 100 metres 2007 Pan American Games champion representing the Netherlands Antilles and claimed three individual titles at the Central American and Caribbean Games. He won gold medals in the 200 m and 100 m at the 2012 and 2016 European Athletics Championships respectively.

Martina is the Dutch national record holder for the 100 and 200. His 100 m 9.91-second record was set at the 2012 London Olympics semi-final and 200 m 19.81-second record was achieved at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne, Switzerland in 2016. He won 13 Dutch national titles. Martina hails from Curaçao and represented the Netherlands Antilles until its dissolution in 2010.

Career Born in Willemstad, Curaçao, Martina began his international career at the youth level, reaching the 100 metres semifinals of the 1999 World Youth Championships in Athletics. Moving up to the junior level, he ran at the World Junior Championships in Athletics in 2000 and 2002, although he was less successful at that level. His first gold came in the 100 m at the 2002 South American Games in Belém, Brazil. He improved his personal best to 10.29 seconds in 2003,

He made his first Olympic appearance as one of three competitors representing the Netherlands Antilles at the 2004 Summer Olympics. He bore their flag in the opening ceremony. The 2004 season also saw much improvement in his times as he knocked 0.16 off his previous year's personal record with a 10.13-second run in Santo Domingo. He led the team to the final at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics and improved the national record further to 38.45 seconds for sixth place. He competed in the individual 100 m but was knocked out in the second round.

Martina took fifth place twice at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka.

The following year he ran a Games record to win the 100 m gold medal at the 2006 Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC Games). He also led the relay team to victory for his second gold medal of the tournament. He improved his personal best to 10.04 seconds that year with a run in El Paso, Texas. He finished fifth in the finals of both the 100 m and 200 m at the 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Japan. He ended the year with a sixth-place finish in the 100 m at the 2007 IAAF World Athletics Final.

On 20 August 2008, he originally placed second in the 200 m at the Olympics, finishing behind Usain Bolt with a time of 19.82 s. This would have been both a national record and the second-ever Olympic medal for the Netherlands Antilles after Jan Boersma's silver in the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul. However he was disqualified an hour after the race for a lane violation. American Wallace Spearmon, who had initially placed third, was disqualified moments after the race for having stepped on his inside lane line during the race. The American coaches appealed the decision and upon viewing footage of Spearmon's offence they noticed that Martina had committed the same infraction. They dropped their appeal for Spearmon in favour of a successful protest against Martina. As a result of the disqualifications, Shawn Crawford and Walter Dix, both of the United States, were promoted to silver and bronze respectively.

However, on 24 August, the Netherlands Antilles filed an appeal to the Court of Arbitration for Sport to reinstate Martina's medal, arguing that the American protest came after the 30-minute deadline for protests and appeals set by the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), and also that they had their own video footage (not the official Olympic video footage) showing that Martina never left his lane. Shawn Crawford, who had been awarded the Olympic silver medal, reportedly gave his medal to Martina on 28 August 2008.

Since 2011, Churandy Martina has represented Netherlands. Pictured (R) at the 2011 World Championships in Athletics held in Daegu.

At the start of the 2009 outdoor season, Martina set a world-leading time of 9.97 seconds in the 100 m at the Fanny Blankers-Koen Games; the fourth time he had finished with a sub-ten-second time. He could not build upon his Olympic success at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics and only reached the quarter-finals of the men's 100 m. He was sixth at the 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final—the competition's final edition. He defended his regional title at the 2010 Central American and Caribbean Games, holding off a challenge from Daniel Bailey to win in 10.07 seconds—just one hundredth off his championship record.

After the dissolution of the Netherlands Antilles, Martina has represented the Netherlands in 2011 World Championships and 2012 European Championships, where he won gold in 200 metres and 4 × 100 metre relay.

2012 Summer Olympics Martina (L) passes the baton to Jerrel Feller (R) at the 2012 European Athletics Championships in Helsinki.

Martina competed at the London 2012 Summer Olympics, again in his three disciplines, the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 × 100 metre relay. Only narrowly making it through to the 100-metre semi-final, Martina improved his personal best in the semi-final to 9.91. This race was also the fastest ever semi-final run, with Justin Gatlin running 9.82. In the final, Martina placed sixth behind Usain Bolt, posting 9.94. Martina then competed in the 200 m, where he finished in fifth, again behind Bolt, in 20 seconds flat. In the relay, the Netherlands finished sixth in a time of 38.39. However, after the Olympics, Martina broke the 200 m national record in Lausanne, lowering the time to 19.85, ending his reasonably successful season.

In 2016, Martina won the European Championships 100 metres before a home crowd. The following day, he crossed the line in first place in the 200 metres, but was denied the sprint double because he crossed inside of his lane line again, giving the win to Bruno Hortelano.

Personal bests All information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted.

Event Location Date Notes 30 metres indoor 3.81 Leeuwarden, Netherlands 14 November 2008 World best 60 metres indoor 6.58 Stuttgart, Germany 6 February 2010 Netherlands Antillean record 100 metres 9.76 El Paso, Texas, United States 13 May 2006 Wind assisted: +6.1 m/s 9.91 London, United Kingdom 5 August 2012 Dutch record 200 metres 19.81 Lausanne, Switzerland 25 August 2016 Dutch record 400 metres 46.13 El Paso, Texas, United States 31 March 2007 Netherlands Antillean record

Competition results All information from World Athletics profile unless otherwise noted. 4 × 100 m relay 39.18

100 m 10.21 (+0.1 m/s)

200 m 20.75 (+0.0 m/s) Olympic Olympics Athens, Greece 7th (qf) 100 m 10.48 (0.0 m/s)

6th (qf) 100 m 10.24 (-1.2 m/s) 6th 4 × 100 m relay 38.45 CAC Championships Nassau, Bahamas

100 m |10.10 (+1.9 m/s)

100 m 10.06 s (+0.6 m/s)

4 × 100 m relay 39.29

Pan American Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

100 m 10.15 (+1.0 m/s)

5th 100 m 10.08 (-0.5 m/s) 5th 200 m 20.28 (-0.8 m/s)

4th 100 m 9.93 (+0.0 m/s)

200 m DQ 2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 4th (qf) 100 m 10.19 (+0.1 m/s)

World Indoor Championships Doha, Qatar 8th (sf) 60 m 6.65

100 m 10.07 (+0.7 m/s)

200 m 20.25 (+0.0 m/s)

4 × 100 m relay 38.82 2010

Split, Croatia

200 m 20.47

18th (sf) 100 m 10.29 (-0.8 m/s) – (sf) 200 m DNS

200 m 20.42 (-0.9 m/s)

4 × 100 m relay 38.34

6th 100 m 9.94 (+1.5 m/s) 5th 200 m 20.00 (+0.4 m/s) 6th 4 × 100 m relay 38.39

9th (sf) 100 m 10.34 (+0.6 m/s) 4th 200 m 20.37 (-1.6 m/s) 5th 4 × 100 m relay 38.60

16th (sf) 100 m 10.09 (-0.4 m/s) 10th (sf) 200 m 20.20 (+0.4 m/s)

World Indoor Championships Portland, OR, United States 22nd (h) 60 m 6.67

100 m 10.07 (0.0 m/s)

200 m 20.37 (-0.9 m/s) 4th 4 × 100 m relay 38.57

26th (h) 100 m 10.22 (-0.5 m/s) 5th 200 m 20.13 (-0.5 m/s) 2017 World Relays Nassau, Bahamas 4th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.71

6th 100 m 10.16 (0.0 m/s) 10th (sf) 200 m 20.51 (+0.3 m/s)

4 × 100 m relay 38.03

World Relays Yokohama, Japan 10th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.67 World Championships Doha, Qatar 7th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 37.91

World Relays Chorzów, Poland 5th (h) 4 × 100 m relay 38.79 Olympic Games Tokyo, Japan – 4 × 100 m relay DNF Circuit wins, National titles Diamond League 2012: New York Grand Prix (200 m, ) 2013: Lausanne Athletissima (200 m, ) 2016: Rome Golden Gala (4 × 100 m relay), Lausanne (200 m, ) Dutch Athletics Championships 100 metres (7): 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018 200 metres (6): 2011, 2014, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021