- Eunice Barber
Eunice Barber (born
November 17 ,1974 inFreetown ,Sierra Leone ) is an athlete competing inheptathlon andlong jump . Barber initially competed for Sierra Leone and then forFrance from 1999 onwards. She won the heptathlon at theWorld Championships in Athletics in 1999, the long jump in 2003 and finished second in heptathlon in 2003 and 2005.Debut
Barber participated in the 1992 Olympic Games in
Barcelona in the heptathlon and100 m hurdles . She also participated in the heptathlon at the 1993 World Championships inStuttgart , but failed to finish.Breakthrough
At the 1995 World Championships in
Gothenburg , she beats her personal bests in six (out of seven) events in the heptathlon and gets the fourth place. The next year, she finished fifth in the heptathlon at the 1996 Olympic Games inAtlanta . In those games, she also participated in the long jump (but did not qualify for the final).Duels with Denise Lewis
Because of an injury, Eunice Barber could not compete before 1998. In February 1999, she became a French citizen (she has trained and lived in France since 1992).
In the 1999 World Championships heptathlon in
Seville , she beatsDenise Lewis by just 137 points with a personal best total of 6861 points with Lewis safely in second by a further 224 points to third placedGhada Shouaa .In 2000, Eunice Barber recorded the year's best score of 6842 points. However during the Olympic Games in
Sydney , an injury forces her to withdraw from the competition after five events. Denise Lewis wins the heptathlon.Duels with Carolina Klüft
At the 2003 World Championships in
Paris , Carolina Klüft captured her first world title, in front of Barber's adopted home crowd. Klüft finished with 7001 points, ahead of Barber, with 6755 points. However, Barber bounced back to win thelong jump , with her last-round attempt.At the
2005 World Championships in Athletics inHelsinki , Klüft and Barber battle again for the Gold Medal. Once again Klüft wins (with 6,887 points) and Barber takes the second place (with 6,824 points). Barber failed to defend her long jump crown, but took a bronze in the event.At the
2006 European Championships in Athletics inGothenburg , Barber hoped to even the score with Klüft, by beating her in front of her home crowd. However, Barber was forced to withdraw on day one because of a hip injury.Police scuffle
In March 2006 she was heavy handled by a group of police officers following a minor traffic offence near
Stade de France . Eunice will take the case to a court, but she could herself face charges for assaulting the police officers. [http://www.signonsandiego.com/sports/20060323-0805-run--barber-police.html]External links
* [http://www.barber-eunice.com Official website of Eunice Barber]
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* [http://usuarios.lycos.es/noabia/eunicebarber.htm Eunice Barber pictures]
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