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Ghada Shouaa (Arabic: غادة شعاع; born September
10, 1972) is a Syrian former heptathlete. At the 1996
Summer Olympics, she won her country's first and only Olympic gold
medal.
Born in the small Syrian city of Mhardeh in the Hama Governorate, Shouaa's first sport
was basketball.[1]
She played on the Syrian national team for a few years, but then
decided to compete in athletics. She did her first heptathlon in
1991, and was immediately sent to the 1991 World
Championships in Tokyo, where she placed last.[1]
She concluded her first athletics season with a silver medal in the
Asian championships.
Shouaa debuted at the Olympics in the 1992
Barcelona Games, placing 18th in spite of an injury. Her
breakthrough didn't come until 1995, when she won the important
heptathlon meet in Götzis, scoring 6715 points. This boosted her to
one of the favourites for the title at the 1995 World
Championships, held in Gothenburg. After co-favorite Sabine Braun dropped
out with an injury, Shouaa won the title with a comfortable
margin.[1]
The following season, Shouaa again won the Götzis meet, bringing
the still-standing Asian record to 6942 points. In Atlanta, three months later,
she confirmed her status as the best heptathlete at the time,
winning Syria's first Olympic gold medal.[1]
A serious injury ruined the following season, and she was unable
to make a serious comeback until 1999, when she placed third at the
World Championships behind Eunice Barber.[1]
Shouaa attempted to defend her Olympic title in Sydney, but she again became injured and did not
even finish the first event.[1]
After this disappointment, she decided to retire from
athletics.
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