View source for Ellen van Langen

{{short description|Dutch middle-distance runner}}
{{family name hatnote|van Langen|Langen|lang=Dutch}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| name             = Ellen van Langen
| image            = <!-- name.jpg -->
| alt              = 
| caption          = 
| full_name        = Ellen Gezina Maria van Langen
| citizenship      = 
| birth_date       = {{birth date and age|1966|02|06|df=yes}}
| birth_place      = [[Oldenzaal]], Netherlands
| monuments        = 
| hometown         = 
| education        = 
| alma_mater       = [[University of Amsterdam]]
| occupation       = 
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| weight           = <!-- X kg, X lb, or X st Y lb (automatic conversion) plus optional year and reference -->
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| website          = <!-- {{URL|www.example.com}} -->
| module           = 
<!-- Sport -->
| country          = [[Netherlands]]
| sport            = [[Track and field]]
| rank             = 
| event            = [[800 metres]]
| event_type       = 
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| pb               = 
<!-- Medal record -->
| medaltemplates   = {{Medal|Sport | Women's [[Athletics (sport)|Athletics]]}}
{{MedalCountry | the {{NED}} }}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Athletics at the Summer Olympics|Olympic Games]]}}
{{MedalGold|[[Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Barcelona]]|[[Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics - Women's 800 metres|800 metres]]}}
{{MedalCompetition|[[Universiade]]}}
{{MedalSilver|[[Athletics at the 1989 Summer Universiade|1989 Duisburg]]|800 metres}}
}}

'''Ellen Gezina Maria van Langen''' ({{IPA|nl|ˈɛlə(ŋ) ɣeːˈzinaː maːˈrijaː vɑn ˈlɑŋə(n)|lang}}; born 9 February 1966) is a Dutch former [[Middle distance track event|middle distance]] [[Running|runner]], who specialised in the [[800 metres]]. A talented but injury-ridden athlete, she was the [[Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Olympic Champion]] for the [[Athletics at the 1992 Summer Olympics – Women's 800 metres|women's 800 meters]]. She is now the director of the [[Fanny Blankers-Koen Games|FBK Games]] (the Hengelo meeting).

==Career==
Van Langen was born in [[Oldenzaal]], [[Overijssel]]. Before she started running she played [[association football|football]]. She only started to run seriously at 20. In 1989, she won her first of four national championships in the 800 meters and went on to win a silver medal behind [[Ana Quirot]] (Cuba) at the World Student Games (Universiade), running 1:59.82. In 1990, she finished fourth in the final of the [[1990 European Athletics Championships – Women's 800 metres|European Championships]] in Split, with a Dutch national record of 1:57.57, behind the East German athletes [[Sigrun Wodars]] (gold), [[Christine Wachtel]] (silver) and [[Liliya Nurutdinova]] (bronze) from the Soviet Union.

During the year 1991, she was troubled by an [[Achilles tendon]] injury. At the [[1991 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres|Tokyo World Championships]] she was eliminated in the heats. The next year, leading up to the 1992 Olympic Games in Barcelona, she defeated Tokyo gold medallist Liliya Nurutdinova at the [[Fanny Blankers-Koen Games]] in [[Hengelo]] on 28 June in 1:56.66, the fastest time of the season prior to the Games. Just two weeks before the Olympics, she ran another fast time of 1:56.92 at [[KBC Night of Athletics|Hechtel]].<ref name="sporting-heroes">{{cite news |url=http://www.sporting-heroes.net/athletics/netherlands/ellen-van-langen-481/1992-olympic-games-800m-champion_a10237/ |title=Ellen van Langen |work=athletics-heroes.net |access-date=March 6, 2018 |language=en}}</ref>

At the [[1992 Summer Olympics|1992 Olympic Games]] in [[Barcelona]], Van Langen won the Olympic title in the 800 metres in a time of 1:55.54, a time which is still the [[List of Dutch records in athletics#Women|Dutch national record]]. Fearing her final sprint, her competitors including favorites Nurutdinova, Quirot, [[Ella Kovacs]] (Romania) and [[Maria Mutola]] (Mozambique) set a rapid pace, running the first lap in a very fast time of 55.73, with Van Langen only in 6th position. Entering the final stretch Nurutdinova, who had led the final from the start, had a slight lead but Van Langen moved through on the inside in the last 50 m to win a surprise victory, beating Nurutdinova (silver) and Quirot (bronze).<ref name="sporting-heroes"/><ref name="video">{{cite news |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC7a_JuMZOI |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20210724095559/https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xC7a_JuMZOI |archive-date=2021-07-24 |url-status=dead |title=Women's 800m Final Barcelona Olympics 1992 |access-date=March 6, 2018 |language=en}}</ref><ref name="sportkroniek">{{cite news |url=http://www.sportkroniek.nl/portret/portret/vanlangen-0209.html |title=Portret Ellen van Langen |work=sportkroniek.nl |date=25 June 2008 |access-date=March 6, 2018 |language=nl |archive-url=https://archive.today/20120530023924/http://www.sportkroniek.nl/portret/portret/vanlangen-0209.html |archive-date=30 May 2012 |url-status=dead}}</ref>

The year 1992 remained her top year, when she won 10 of her 11 800 m races. After her Olympic triumph, she was plagued by various injuries. Her best result after 1992 was a 6th-place finish at the [[1995 World Championships in Athletics – Women's 800 metres|1995 World Championships]] at Gothenburg. The ongoing injuries prevented her from defending her Olympic title in 1996.<ref name="sporting-heroes"/> She retired from the sport in 1998.<ref name="sportkroniek"/><ref name="xinhua2002">{{cite news |url=http://english.cntv.cn/special/2012london_olympics/20120717/112206.shtml |title=Van Langen able to "die" best for Olympic gold |work=[[Xinhua]] |date=July 10, 2002 |access-date=March 7, 2016 |language=en}}</ref>

Van Langen later explained the secret of her success. "I think what I could do well is I could die very well in a race and still continue,” she said. “That is very hard, because it hurts running the 800 meters. You have to overcome some boundaries in yourself to continue when it hurts like hell. I was good at it. If the Olympic race would have been run by each athlete individual and the fastest time was the winner I would not have won." She added: "I was also good in tactics, looking around me and taking the right decisions."<ref name="xinhua2002"/>

After her [[gold medal]] win in 1992 the [[Amsterdam]] [[unemployment benefits|unemployment benefits office]] terminated her dole on grounds that she might earn money from her victory in the future.<ref name="trouw2010">{{cite news |url=http://www.trouw.nl/tr/nl/4324/nieuws/article/detail/1115157/2010/08/10/Eindelijk-worden-oude-helden-erkend-als-inspiratiebron.dhtml |title=Eindelijk worden oude helden erkend als inspiratiebron |work=[[Trouw]] |date=August 10, 2010 |access-date=September 22, 2011 |language=nl}}</ref> She has a [[academic degree|degree]] in [[economics]] from the [[University of Amsterdam]], and currently works as an event manager for Global Sports Communication.<ref name="xinhua2002"/>

Van Langen is the director of the [[Fanny Blankers-Koen Games]] in [[Hengelo]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=http://www.nhnieuws.nl/nieuws/223511/Nadine-Visser-treft-Europees-kampioene-op-100m-horden-bij-FBK-Games |title=Nadine Visser treft Europees kampioene op 100m horden bij FBK Games |work=NH Nieuws |access-date=2018-04-25 |language=nl-NL}}</ref>

==Personal bests==
Information from [[World Athletics]] profile unless otherwise noted.<ref>"[https://worldathletics.org/athletes/_/14292174 Ellen VAN LANGEN]", ''[[World Athletics]]''. Retrieved 11 August 2023.</ref>
{|class="wikitable plainrowheaders"
|-
!scope="col"|Type
!scope="col"|Event
!scope="col"|Time ([[Minute|m]]:[[Second|s]])
!scope="col"|Venue
!scope="col"|Date
!scope="col"|Record
|-
|rowspan="4" style="text-align:center;"|Outdoor
|[[800 metres]]
|style="text-align:center;"|1:55.54
|[[Barcelona]], Spain
|3 August 1992
|style="text-align:center;"|{{AthAbbr|NR|Dutch}}
|-
|[[1000 metres]]
|style="text-align:center;"|2:35.21
|[[Sheffield]], United Kingdom
|29 August 1993
|
|-
|[[1500 metres]]
|style="text-align:center;"|4:06.97
|[[Lausanne]], Switzerland
|6 July 1994
|
|-
|[[Mile run|One mile]]
|style="text-align:center;"|4:31.88
|Lausanne, Switzerland
|8 July 1992
|
|-
|rowspan="2" style="text-align:center;"|Indoor
|800 metres
|style="text-align:center;"|2:00.36 {{AthAbbr|i}}
|[[Liévin]], France
|19 February 1995
|
|-
|1000 metres
|style="text-align:center;"|2:39.65 {{AthAbbr|i}}
|[[Sindelfingen]], Germany
|21 January 1990
|
|}

==References==
{{Reflist}}

==External links==
* {{World Athletics}}
* {{Olympedia}}
* {{Olympics.com profile|org_archive=20190624080138}}
* {{nocnsf.nl}}

{{S-start}}
{{S-ach}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Elly van Hulst]]}}
{{S-ttl|title=[[KNAU Cup]]|years=1990<br>1992|rows=2}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Letitia Vriesde]]}}
{{S-bef|before=[[Letitia Vriesde]]}}
{{S-aft|after=[[Nelli Fiere-Cooman]]}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Ingrid Haringa]]}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Dutch Sportsman of the year|Dutch Sportswoman of the Year]]|years=1992}}
{{s-aft|after=[[Leontien van Moorsel]]}}
{{S-end}}

{{Footer Olympic Champions 800 m Women}}
{{Footer WBYP 800m Women}}

{{Authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Langen, Ellen Van}}
[[Category:1966 births]]
[[Category:20th-century Dutch sportswomen]]
[[Category:21st-century Dutch women]]
[[Category:Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Athletes from Overijssel]]
[[Category:Dutch women middle-distance runners]]
[[Category:FISU World University Games silver medalists for the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Living people]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1989 Summer Universiade]]
[[Category:Medalists at the 1992 Summer Olympics]]
[[Category:Olympic athletes for the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Olympic women middle-distance runners]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists for the Netherlands]]
[[Category:Olympic gold medalists in athletics]]
[[Category:Sportspeople from Oldenzaal]]
[[Category:Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field)]]