Cynthia Bolingo

Cynthia Bolingo
Bolingo at the 2018 European Championships in Berlin
Personal information
Full nameCynthia Maduengele Bolingo Mbongo
Born (1993-01-12) 12 January 1993 (age 31)
Uccle, Brussels-Capital Region, Belgium
Height1.65 m (5 ft 5 in)
Weight54 kg (119 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)100 m, 200 m, 400m
ClubCABW
Coached byJean Pecher (–2012)
Carole Bam (2012–
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Belgium
European Championships
Bronze medal – third place 2024 Rome 4×400 m relay
European Indoor Championships
Silver medal – second place 2019 Glasgow 400 m
European Games
Bronze medal – third place 2023 Kraków-Małopolska 4×400 m mixed

Cynthia Maduengele Bolingo Mbongo (born 12 January 1993),[1] 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.[2]

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.[3] A month later, she broke it again, lowering it to 50.29 seconds.[4] 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.[5]


On August 22, 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.[6] Early July she again sustained an injury during a 400m race.[7] 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.[8]

International competitions

[edit]
Bolingo runs in the women's 4x400 m relay at the 2018 European Athletics Championships
Representing  Belgium
Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
2011 European Junior Championships Tallinn, Estonia 5th 4 × 100 m relay 45.15
2013 European U23 Championships Tampere, Finland 12th (h) 200 m 23.96
– 4 × 100 m relay DQ
Jeux de la Francophonie Nice, France 3rd 200 m 24.08
1st 4 × 100 m relay 44.70
2015 European U23 Championships Tallinn, Estonia 8th 400 m 52.82
World Championships Beijing, China 43rd (h) 200 m 23.45
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 63rd (h) 200 m 23.98
2017 Universiade Taipei, Taiwan 22nd (h) 200 m 24.80
2018 European Championships Berlin, Germany 16th (sf) 400 m 51.92
4th 4 × 400 m relay 3:27.69
2019 European Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 2nd 400 m 51.62
5th 4 × 400 m relay 3:32.46
2021 European Indoor Championships Toruń, Poland 17th (sf) 400 m 53.74
World Relays Chorzów, Poland 3rd (h) 4 × 400 m relay 3:28.27
2022 European Championships Munich, Germany 7th 400 m 50.94
4th 4 × 400 m relay 3:22.12 NR
2023 European Games Chorzów, Poland 3rd 4 x 400 m mixed 3:12.97
World Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th 400 m 50.33
2024 World Indoor Championships Glasgow, United Kingdom 4th 4 × 400 m relay 3:28.05
European Championships Rome, Italy 3rd 4 × 400 m relay 3:22.95 SB
Olympic Games Paris, France 42nd (h) 400 m 52.77 SB

Records

[edit]
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

[edit]
  1. ^ Cynthia Bolingo at World Athletics Edit this at Wikidata
  2. ^ "After a brutally painful year, Bolingo learning to live in the moment". World Athletics. 12 November 2020. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  3. ^ "Cynthia Bolingo verpulvert Belgisch record op 400 meter: "Een bevrijding"". Sporza (in Dutch). 1 June 2021. Retrieved 2 June 2021.
  4. ^ "Bolingo and Vanderelst break Belgian records in Heusden". European Athletics. 5 July 2021.
  5. ^ "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.
  6. ^ "Gold and bronze for Belgian men and women in 4x400m relay" (in French). Belga (news agency). 12 June 2024. Retrieved 13 June 2024.
  7. ^ "Olympics: Cynthia Bolingo injured in 400m race in Italy". Belga (news agency). 18 July 2024. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
  8. ^ "400 METRES WOMEN Heats". World Athletics. Retrieved 28 August 2024.
[edit]
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