Bolingo at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Full name | Cynthia Maduengele Bolingo Mbongo |
| Born | 12 January 1993 Uccle, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium |
| Height | 1.65 m (5 ft 5 in) |
| Weight | 54 kg (119 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 100 m, 200 m, 400m |
| Club | CABW |
| Coached by | Jean Pecher (–2012) Carole Bam (2012–2024) Gary Evans(2024- |
Medal record | |
Cynthia Maduengele Bolingo Mbongo (born 12 January 1993), known as Cynthia Bolingo, is a Belgian sprinter. In a career beset with injuries, she won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships and the bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres at the 2024 European Athletics Championships.
Bolingo competed in the 200 metres at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing without advancing from the first round.
A few weeks after winning that silver medal in the 400 metres at the 2019 European Athletics Indoor Championships in Glasgow, Bolingo felt a pain in her Achilles that got worse and worse and finally forced her to scrap the entire 2019 season. It would be 18 months before she ran in competition again.
On 1 June 2021, she broke the Belgian record on the 400 metres at a meeting in Montreuil, France; with a time of 50 seconds and 75 hundreds, she improved upon the 16-year-old time of 51 seconds 45 hundreds by Kim Gevaert, and qualified to compete at the 2020 Olympics. A month later, she broke it again, lowering it to 50.29 seconds. But then, in the final run-up for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo, she sustained a hamstring injury in training camp in Mito, Japan, making it impossible for her to run at the Olympics.
On 22 August 2023 she qualified for the 400m final of the world championships by setting a time of 49 s 96 in the semi-final, improving her Belgian record and becoming the first Belgian to reach the final of a 400 metres at the 2023 World Championships in Budapest.
In June 2024, she was on the Belgian 4 x 400 metres women's relay team that won a bronze medal at the European Athletics Championships. Early July she again sustained an injury during a 400m race. The injury prevented her from running in both the 4x400 women's and mixed relays at the 2024 Summer Olympics denting Belgian teams's chances for a medal. In the only race she did compete in at the Olympics, the women's 400 metres, an obviously not fit Bolingo finished a disappointing 42nd in the heats.
International competitions
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Records
| Épreuves | Temps | Lieu | Date | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 60 m | indoor | 7 s 25 | Belgium Louvain-La-Neuve | 2022 |
| 100 m | outdoor | 11 s 28 | Belgium Nivelles | 2021 |
| 200 m | outdoor | 22 s 79 | Belgium Nivelles | 2021 |
| indoor | 24 s 92 | Belgium Ghent | 2011 | |
| 400 m | outdoor | 49 s 96 (NR) | Hungary Budapest | 2023 |
| indoor | 51 s 62 (NR) | United Kingdom Glasgow | 2019 | |
| 4 × 400 m relay | outdoor | 3 min 22 s 12 (NR) | Germany Munich | 2022 |
References
- ^ Cynthia Bolingo at World Athletics
- ^ "After a brutally painful year, Bolingo learning to live in the moment". World Athletics. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
- ^ "Cynthia Bolingo verpulvert Belgisch record op 400 meter: "Een bevrijding"". Sporza (in Dutch). 1 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
- ^ "Bolingo and Vanderelst break Belgian records in Heusden". European Athletics. 5 July 2021.
- ^ "Cynthia Bolingo revient sur son forfait à Tokyo: "C'est derrière moi mais je n'oublie pas"" (in French). Belgian Olympic and Interfederal Committee. 18 November 2021. Retrieved 28 July 2024.
- ^ "Gold and bronze for Belgian men and women in 4x400m relay" (in French). Belga (news agency). 12 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
- ^ "Olympics: Cynthia Bolingo injured in 400m race in Italy". Belga (news agency). 18 July 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
- ^ "400 METRES WOMEN Heats". World Athletics. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
External links
- Cynthia Bolingo at World Athletics
- Cynthia Bolingo at Diamond League
- Cynthia Bolingo at Olympics.com
- Cynthia Bolingo at Team Belgium (in Dutch)
- Cynthia Bolingo at Olympedia
