Melissa Bishop-Nriagu
![]() Bishop at the 2016 Olympics | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Nationality | Canadian | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Eganville, Ontario | August 5, 1988|||||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 173 cm (5 ft 8 in)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 56 kg (123 lb)[1] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Event(s) | 800 metres | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
University team | University of Windsor | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal best(s) | 400 m: 56.46s, Ottawa, 2004 800 m: 1:57.01s NR, Monte Carlo, 2017 1000 m: 2:38.75s , Amsterdam, 2014[2] | |||||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
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Melissa Bishop-Nriagu (born August 5, 1988) is a Canadian runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She competed at the 2012, 2016 Olympics and 2020 Olympics, and won a silver medal at the 2015 World Athletics Championships. Her World Championship medal was the first ever medal in the 800 m by a Canadian woman. Bishop-Nriagu graduated from University of Windsor and is only the third Canadian woman to achieve a time under 2:00 minutes in the 800 m. She is currently the national record holder for this distance.
Career[]
At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Bishop-Nriagu placed sixth in her heat and did not advance to the semi-finals.
Her next major sporting event was the 2015 Pan American Games located in her home country of Canada. There, Bishop-Nriagu competed in the 800m in Toronto, in the final she ran a time of 1:59.62 to win the gold and the title of Pan Am champion. Of the home crowd Bishop-Nriagu said, "I knew the crowd was going to be loud no matter what, so I was just trying to put myself in a good position to be able to runthrough. I'm really happy it worked out. It's so nice to win a gold medal at home."[3]
Bishop-Nriagu finished 2nd in the 800 meters at the 2015 World Athletics Championships in China. In the semi-finals she set a national record while winning in 1:57.52, beating a record set by Diane Cummins which had stood for 14 years.[4] The final, a race characterized by several pace changes up and down, saw Bishop-Nriagu in a three-way sprint to the medals where she finished in second place. After the race she said that, "It's really a dream come true. Our training has been really consistent over the last few years. This year, we've really worked on a few things and I've been waiting for the right race. I'm really happy that it came here at the [world] championships."[4]
The 2016 Summer Olympics saw Bishop-Nriagu compete as a part of Canada's Olympic team.[5] Bishop-Nriagu was ranked third in the world as of July 27, 2016, after posting a national record of 1:57.43 in Edmonton, on July 16. Bishop-Nriagu finished 4th in the 800 m final in Rio de Janeiro, again setting a new national record for the 800 m with a 1:57.02 finish. Caster Semenya would win gold, while Francine Niyonsaba took silver and Margaret Wambui would pass Bishop-Nriagu for bronze in the final 50 m, beating her by 0.13s. Many, including the 5th and 6th place finishers from Poland and Britain, believe that all three podium finishers are intersex and compete with elevated testosterone levels.[6][7] A teary-eyed Bishop-Nriagu said after the race that "It's really kind of hard to describe this right now. This is what we work for for a decade and to be that close...this is tough."[8]
Following her pregnancy in 2018 and injury struggles in 2019, Bishop resumed competition and qualified to her third consecutive Canadian Olympic team, this time for the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo. Bishop aimed to improve on her prior result in the 800 m, but placed fourth in her heat with a time of 2:02.11 and did not qualify to the semi-finals. Speaking afterward she said she was disappointed, while noting that she had been dealing with a hamstring injury, and that ultimately she was proud of what she had accomplished in returning to the Games.[9]
Personal life[]
Born in Eganville, Ontario, Bishop-Nriagu lives by Lake Dore with her parents, Alison and Doug Bishop.[1] Bishop-Nriagu married fellow Canadian athlete Osi Nriagu, in October 2017.[10] The couple announced they were expecting their first child in February 2018 with the baby due in June 2018.[11] Their daughter was born on Monday, July 2, 2018. [12]
Achievements[]
- 2nd, 800 meters; 2015 Beijing, World Championships, China
- 2nd, 2012 National Championships, Calgary, Canada (Olympic "A" Standard).
- Personal Best: 1:57.01 – Canadian record (800 m outdoor); Monaco (MON), World Athletic Championships, Final, July 21, 2017
References[]
- ^ a b c "Melissa Bishop". olympic.ca. Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved July 23, 2015.
- ^ "IAAF Profile". IAAF. Retrieved July 22, 2015.
- ^ "Melissa Bishop gives Canada gold in 800m". CBC Sports. July 22, 2015. Retrieved August 30, 2015.
- ^ a b "Melissa Bishop grabs silver in women's 800m at Beijing worlds". CBC Sports. August 29, 2015.
- ^ Hossain, Asif (July 11, 2016). "Athletics Canada nominates largest squad to Team Canada for Rio". Canadian Olympic Committee. Retrieved July 11, 2016.
- ^ "Is Caster Semenya playing fair?". CBC Sports. February 24, 2019.
- ^ "'Intersex' athletes to learn if they will be forced to take drugs to suppress testosterone". the Telegraph. February 24, 2019.
- ^ "Melissa Bishop heartbroken after missing 800 podium". CBC Sports. August 21, 2016. Archived from the original on October 17, 2016. Retrieved August 21, 2016.
- ^ Dichter, Myles (July 29, 2021). "Canada's Melissa Bishop-Nriagu knocked out early in women's 800m heats".
- ^ "Melissa Bishop shares wedding day photo". Canadian Running. October 7, 2017. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ "Running star Melissa Bishop trading track for diaper changing this summer". Windsor Star. February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 2, 2018.
- ^ "It's a girl! Melissa-Bishop-Nriagu's baby born July 2". Running Magazine. July 4, 2018. Retrieved August 10, 2021.
External links[]
- Melissa Bishop at World Athletics
- Melissa Bishop at Diamond League
- Melissa Bishop at Olympics.com
- Melissa Bishop at the Canadian Olympic Committee
- Melissa Bishop at Olympedia
- Melissa Bishop at the Commonwealth Games Federation
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- 1988 births
- Living people
- Olympic track and field athletes of Canada
- Canadian female middle-distance runners
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics
- Athletes from Ottawa
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
- Commonwealth Games competitors for Canada
- Pan American Games gold medalists for Canada
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2015 Pan American Games
- World Athletics Championships athletes for Canada
- World Athletics Championships medalists
- Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field)
- Canadian Track and Field Championships winners
- Medalists at the 2015 Pan American Games
- Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics