Zulia Inés Calatayud Torres

===BODY===
Cuban athlete finalist in international track and field competitions, especially in the 800 meters.

Calatayud, who attended the "Manuel Permuy" School of Sports in Havana, became involved in this discipline to help her deal with asthma. Zulia became known when she reached the semifinals of the 400 meters at the 1998 World Junior Championship in Annecy, France. In 1999, she ran 2:00.67 to finish second at the Pan American Games in Winnipeg, Canada. She finished in sixth place in the 800 meters at the Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia. The year 2000 was also notable for Calatayud, because she broke the 2-minute barrier, running 1:59.63 in Jena, Germany.

In 2002, Calatayud became the fastest woman when she ran 1:56.09 at the Golden League Herculis meeting in Monaco. This was going to be her last competition for 19 months, as various injuries kept the 22-year-old from being able to train.

Upon returning to competition, she had a successful performance, not only qualifying for the Athens Games, Greece, but also because she made her second consecutive Olympic final and finished in eighth place.

A consistent 2005 season was the preface to Calatayud's participation in the IAAF World Championship in Helsinki. She set the best time of the season with 1:57.92 in the semifinals, her second fastest. At 1:58.82, Zulia Calatayud had become a World Champion. She finished the 2005 season with a convincing victory at the World Athletics Final in Monaco. The winning streak earned her the top spot in the IAAF World Rankings.

For the 2006 season, Calatayud began where she had left off a few months earlier. She set her second best time (1:56.91) by placing third at the Athletissima meeting in Lausanne, in July. She won the 800m crown at the XX Central American and Caribbean Games in Cartagena, Colombia, but after 51 consecutive weeks, she lost the No. 1 spot in the rankings to Kenya's African champion Janeth Jepkosgei from the Commonwealth.

However, Calatayud ended 2006 on a high note, winning the World Athletics Final and the World Cup on consecutive weekends, beating her rival Jepkosgei on both occasions. She was selected as Cuban and Latin American athlete of the year in an annual survey conducted by Prensa Latina. A total of 115 media outlets from Latin America, the Caribbean, Asia, Africa, Europe, and the United States participated in the survey.

In 2007, Calatayud suffered another injury, this time her season could not begin until June, but after six weeks of training, she won a bronze medal at the Pan American Games in Rio de Janeiro. She also ran the third leg for the Cuban team that won gold in the 4x400m relay with Daimi Pernia, Aymee Martínez, and Indira Terrero. Since 2006, Calatayud has not made a major world final, losing in the semifinals at the 2007 Osaka World Championship and in Berlin 2009, as well as at the Beijing Olympic Games in 2008. In 2009, Calatayud won the 800m at the XXII Central American and Caribbean Athletics Championship held in Havana, at the Panamericano Stadium.

Personal Records
200 meters - 24.33 01/01/1998
400 meters 50.87 (Alcalá de Henares 30/06/2001)
800 meters - 1:56.09 (Monaco 19/07/2002)
1000 meters - 2:34.31 (Brussels 30/08/2002)
1500 meters - 4:23.84 (Havana, 17/03/2005)

Achievements
1999 Pan American Games Winnipeg Second
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia Sixth
2001 World Athletics Championship Edmonton Fifth SF
2001 17th IAAF Grand Prix Final Melbourne Fourth 2:00.89
2004 Olympic Games Athens Eighth
2002 Ninth IAAF World Cup Athletics Madrid Fourth 1:59.44
2004 Ibero-American Championship Huelva First
2005 World Championship Helsinki, Finland First 800 meters
2005 World Athletics Final Monaco First
2006 Central American and Caribbean Games Cartagena, Colombia First 800 meters
2006 World Athletics Stuttgart First
2006 World Cup Athens, Greece First
2007 Pan American Games Rio de Janeiro Third
2009 Central American and Caribbean Athletics Championship Havana, Cuba First

800m progression
2009 2:00.20 Huelva 10/06/2009
2008 1:58.78 Beijing (National Stadium) 16/08/2008
2007 2:00.34 Rio de Janeiro 24/07/2007
2006 1:56.91 Lausanne 11/07/2006
2005 1:57.92 Helsinki 07/08/2005
2004 1:59.21 Athens (Olympic Stadium) 21/08/2004
2002 1:56.09 Monaco 19/07/2002
2001 1:58.60 Monaco 20/07/2001
2000 1:58.66 Sydney 25/09/2000
1999 2:00.67 Winnipeg 25/07/1999
1997 2:12.7 01/01/1997
1996 2:13.80 01/01/1996
1995 2:18.9 01/01/1995