FACTOIDS
Full Name: Tonique Williams-Darling
Nickname: Tonique
Birthday: January 17, 1976
Height: 5' 3"
Hometown: Bahamas
Sports: Track & Field
PROFILE
Williams-Darling had a breakout year in 2004. She started with a bronze medal at the 2004 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Budapest, Hungary, running a personal best behind Russia's Natalya Nazarova and Olesya Krasnomovets. Then in July, at the Rome meeting of the IAAF Golden League, Tonique broke Mexican world champion Ana Guevara's 23 race winning streak in the 400 meter race.
At the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece Williams-Darling beat Guevara again. In a head to head final straight, she proved to be more powerful than the Mexican runner who had been hampered with injuries and trained only on a limited basis prior to the Games.
Winning the race, she became Bahamas first individual Olympic gold medalist.
After the Olympics she secured the win in the overall Golden League-jackpot, cashing in 500.000 dollars (after splitting the million dollar pot with Christian Olsson).
She also won the gold medal in the 400 meters at 2005 World Championships in Athletics, in a head-to-head race with American 400-meter specialist Sanya Richards.
At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, despite being the favourite, she was unexpectedly beaten both in her semi-final and the final by Christine Ohuruogu of England, claiming silver instead.
Williams-Darling is currently taking the 2007 season off to nurse a hamstring injury.
