http://www.iaaf.org/GLE03/news/Kind=2/newsId=23116.html
Million Dollar Mutola Queen of Golden League
Saturday 6 September 2003
Brussels - Mozambique’s Maria Mutola leaves the stadium here this evening one million dollars richer after yet another stunning run that secured her victory in the IAAF Golden League Jackpot.
The win is historic as Mutola becomes, in the process, the first athlete ever to win outright the jackpot and the highest earning woman athlete in history, dethroning Gabriel Szabo from that pinnacle as the only woman ever to have won more than a million dollars in one year.
Maria Mutola victorious in the 800m in Brussels
(Getty Images)
Mutola can add to the million dollar cheque she picked up this evening, $40,000 dollars from her win in the World Indoor Championships in Birmingham, $60,000 from the World Championships in Paris and another $90,000 dollars from her wins in the six Golden League meets ($15,000 per meet), giving her $1,190,000 from her participation in IAAF events alone!
Mutola was taking no chances this evening, holding back in the pack until the last 100 metres before she made her break for the finish line. Letitia Vriesde was the early pacemaker, taking the field to 400 metres in 56.15, it was then a close pack of Mutola, Natalya Kruschelyova (RUS), Amina Ait Hammou (MAR), Mutola’s training partner Kelly Holmes (GBR) and Jolanda Ceplak (SLO) who went from the bell with Mutola right in the centre of the pack. As they came out of the final bend, Mutola made a break on the outside and was away, kicking for the finish and powering away from Khruschelyova, Ait Hammou and Holmes, who took up the pursuit but were unable to match the finish of Mutola who crossed the line in 1:57.78, nearly a second ahead of the Russian, second in 1:58.53 and Ait Hammou, third in 1:58.66.