Letitia Vriesde

Letitia Vriesde

Personal information
Born	(1964-10-05) 5 October 1964 (age 52) Coronie, Suriname
Height	1.59 m (5 ft 3 in)
Weight	55 kg (121 lb)
Medal record Women's Athletics Representing  Suriname World Championships 1995 Gothenburg 800 m 2001 Edmonton 800 m World Indoor Championships 1995 Barcelona 800 m World Cup 1998 Johannesburg 800 m Grand Prix Final 1997 Fukuoka City 800 m Pan American Games 1999 Winnipeg 800 m 1991 Havana 1500 m 1995 Mar del Plata 800 m South American Championships 2001 Manaus 1500 m 2001 Manaus 800 m Central American and Caribbean Games 1990 Mexico City 1500 m 1993 Ponce 800 m 1993 Ponce 1500 m 1998 Maracaibo 800 m 2002 San Salvador 800 m 1990 Mexico City 800 m South American Games 1990 Lima 800 m 1990 Lima 1500 m 1994 Valencia 800 m 1994 Valencia 1500 m

Letitia Alma Vriesde (born 5 October 1964) is a female former track and field athlete from Suriname, who specialised in the 800 metres but was also successful over 1500 metres. She is the first (and as of 2015, only) sportsperson from Suriname to compete at five Olympic Games. She won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships and a bronze medal at the 2001 World Championships. Vriesde holds the South American records for 800m, 1000m and 1500m (indoors and outdoors) and also for 3000m (indoors).

Vriesde started running in Suriname, coached by Luiz de Oliveira. She left Suriname after failing to be selected for the 1984 Olympics to train in the Netherlands. She competed in the 800 metres at the 1988 Summer Olympics, and broke into the highest echelons of the sport in 1991, when she reached the finals of both 800m and 1500m at the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in Tokyo, finishing in fifth and ninth places respectively. At the 1992 Summer Olympics she set a record of sorts by recording the fastest ever non-qualifying time (1:58.28) in an 800m semi-final.

Vriesde won a bronze medal in the 800m at the 1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships, before going on to win a silver medal at the 1995 World Championships in Athletics behind Cuba's Ana Quirot. A year later, she missed the finals at the 1996 Summer Olympics, running a nearly identical time to her 1992 Olympic performance (1:58.29), again placing fifth in her semifinal. She has also won many medals at the Pan-American Games and Central American Games.

Vriesde was disqualified and stripped of her gold medal at the 2003 Pan-American Games after testing positive for excessive caffeine levels. She was said to have the equivalent of five gallons of coffee in her system, and admitted her guilt. She was not banned however and went on to compete at that year's World Championships. Drinking too much coffee or taking a common cold tablet would no longer get athletes disqualified after a new global list of banned substances was drawn up by the World Anti-Doping Agency and applied from 1 January 2004.

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