- Tania Van Heer
Tania Van Heer (now Mrs. Mark Murphy) (born
December 30 ,1970 ) is anAustralia n sprinter who won two gold medals at the1998 Commonwealth Games inKuala Lumpur .Athletics career
A junior prodigy, born in
Sri Lanka , Van Heer won the Under-20 sprint treble (100 metres, 200 metres, 400 metres) at the 1988Australian Championships in Athletics [http://www.athletics.com.au/history/athletes/athlete938.htm Athletics Australia profile - Tania Van-Heer] ] .Badly affected by injury through most of her career [ [http://www.geocities.com/geetee/bios/vanheer.html Athletics Gold - Tania Van Heer profile] ] , she was selected to represent Australia internationally on six occasions.
During her best years (1998-99), when coached by 1950 Commonwealth Games gold medalist [ [http://www.athletics.com.au/history/athletes/athlete254.htm - Athletics Australia - 'Scotchy' Gordon profile] ] , Scotchy Gordon, she won a bronze medal over
100 metres at the1998 Commonwealth Games , followed by two gold medals as part of Australia's victorious 4 x 100 metres and 4 x 400 metres relay teams.In
1999 , although again hampered by injuries, she ran in the1999 World Championships in Athletics , just failing to make the final of the200 metres . She also ran well in the 4 x 400 metres relay for Australia.Van Heer was again injured during 2000 and was unable to qualify for Australia's Olympic team [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/olympics2000/athletics-track/904747.stm BBC - Aussies drop Van Heer] ] .
After becoming a mother, Tania attempted an international comeback in
2006 for the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. Despite finishing 4th in the official100 metres trial, Murphy was not chosen in the Games team.Relay Teams
Tania has won a number of international medals in 4 x 100 metre and 4 x 400 metre relays:
* In Kuala Lumpur 1998, Van Heer led off the Australian 4 x 100 metres relay team of
Lauren Hewitt ,Nova Peris-Kneebone andSharon Cripps to win theCommonwealth Games event.* Shortly afterwards, Van Heer joined with Lee Naylor,
Tamsyn Lewis andSusan Andrews to win the 4 x 400 metres relay in a time of 3-27.28s.* At the 1999 World Indoor Championships in
Maebashi , Van Heer combined withSusan Andrews ,Tamsyn Lewis andCathy Freeman to win a silver medal in an Australian record of 3-26.87.tatistics
Personal Bests
* as at 10 March 2008 [http://www.athletics.com.au/fanzone/athleteprofiles/tania_van_heer-murphy - Tania Van Heer biography] ]
Yearly Progression
* as at 10 March 2008
References
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