Manuel Martínez Gutiérrez

Manuel "Manolo" Martínez Gutiérrez (born December 7, 1974) is a retired Spanish shot putter. Nicknamed the "Gentle Giant", his personal best throw outdoors is 21.47 metres and he has an indoor best of 21.26 m. These marks are the Spanish national records for the event. His international career lasted from 1992 to 2011 and he earned national selection on 84 occasions – the most by any Spanish athlete.[2]

Manuel Martínez
Personal information
Full nameManuel Martínez Gutiérrez
Nickname(s)Gentle Giant, Supermanolo
NationalitySpanish
Born (1974-12-07) December 7, 1974
León, Spain
Height1.85 m (6 ft 1 in)
Weight140 kg (309 lb)
Sport
CountrySpain
SportTrack and field
Event(s)Shot put
ClubC.D. Universidad León Atletismo
Coached byCarlos Burón
Retired29 April 2011[1]
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)Indoor: 21.26 metres (69 ft 9 in)
Outdoor: 21.47 metres (70 ft 5 in) (2002)

Born in León, Spain, he established himself as a junior athlete at the age of seventeen by winning the silver medal at the World Junior Championships and becoming the European Junior Champion the following year. His first major medals as a senior thrower came indoors when he won silver at the 2000 European Athletics Indoor Championships and then secured the bronze at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships.[2]

His career highlights also came indoors, as he won at the 2002 European Indoor Championships and went on to take the gold medal at the 2003 World Indoor Championships. He scored the bronze medal at the 2004 Athens Olympics in May 2013 following an IAAF drug test disqualified the first-place participant.[2]

He represented Spain at the Olympics four times consecutively from 1996 to 2008, and also competed at five consecutive editions of the European Athletics Championships. He participated in the shot put at every World Championships in Athletics from 1993 to 2009, with the sole exception of the 1999 event.[2]

In other competitions, he was a two-time gold medallist at the Mediterranean Games (2001 and 2009), including a Games record of 21.03 m,[3] won gold at the 2001 Summer Universiade,[4] and won three titles at the Ibero-American Championships.[5] He was also the bronze medallist at the 2001 Goodwill Games, 2004 IAAF World Athletics Final, and 2005 European Indoor Championships.

Martínez improved Spanish national records on 31 occasions in his career. He won 16 consecutive outdoor national titles in the shot put from 1993 to 2008, and also won 15 indoor titles.[6] He competed domestically for C.D. Universidad León Atletismo and was coached by Carlos Burón.[7] Martínez retired from competitive athletics in April 2011.[2]

Outside of shot putting, he is an artist and an actor.[2] He starred in Estigmas, a film directed by Adán Aliaga and produced by Jaibo Films.[8] The film is adapted from Lorenzo Mattotti's comic, Stigmate.[9] He performed the role of Goliat in 2011 film El Capitán Trueno y el Santo Grial and the role of Tyson in the 2012 series La fuga.[10]

International performances

YearCompetitionVenuePositionNotes
1992 Ibero-American Championships Seville, Spain 2nd 17.49 m
World Junior Championships Seoul, South Korea 2nd 18.14 m
1993 European Junior Championships San Sebastián, Spain 1st 19.02 m
Mediterranean Games Narbonne, France 5th 18.59 m
World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 11th 19.03 m
1994 European Indoor Championships Paris, France 4th 19.85 m
Ibero-American Championships Mar del Plata, Argentina 2nd 18.70 m
European Championships Helsinki, Finland 14th (q) 18.53 m
1995 World Indoor Championships Barcelona, Spain 4th 19.97 m
World Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 21st (q) 18.50 m
1996 European Indoor Championships Stockholm, Sweden 7th 19.50 m
Olympic Games Atlanta, United States 15th (q) 19.12 m
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France 5th 20.37 m
World Championships Athens, Greece 12th (q) 19.61 m
Universiade Catania, Italy 7th 19.05 m
1998 European Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 6th 20.09 m
Ibero-American Championships Lisbon, Portugal 1st 19.47 m
European Championships Munich, Germany 7th 20.02 m
1999 World Indoor Championships Maebashi, Japan 4th 20.79 m
2000 European Indoor Championships Ghent, Belgium 2nd 20.38 m
Ibero-American Championships Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 1st 19.70 m
Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 6th 20.55 m
2001 World Indoor Championships Lisbon, Portugal 3rd 20.67 m
European Cup Bremen, Germany 1st 21.03 m
World Championships Edmonton, Canada 4th 20.91 m
Universiade Beijing, China 1st 20.16 m
Mediterranean Games Radès, Tunisia 1st 21.03 m
Goodwill Games Brisbane, Australia 3rd 20.44 m
2002 European Indoor Championships Vienna, Austria 1st 21.26 m
European Championships Munich, Germany 5th 20.45 m
World Cup Madrid, Spain 6th 19.76 m
2003 European Indoor Cup Leipzig, Germany 2nd 19.60 m
World Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 1st 21.24 m
European Cup Florence, Italy 1st 21.08 m
World Championships Paris, France 14th (q) 19.78 m
World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 4th 20.32 m
2004 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 5th 20.79 m
Ibero-American Championships Huelva, Spain 1st 20.59 m
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 3rd 20.84 m
World Athletics Final Monte Carlo, Monaco 3rd 20.67 m
2005 European Indoor Championships Madrid, Spain 3rd 20.51 m
European Cup Florence, Italy 2nd 20.28 m
Mediterranean Games Almería, Spain 2nd 19.97 m
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 14th (q) 19.55 m
2006 European Indoor Cup Liévin, France 3rd 20.09 m
World Indoor Championships Moscow, Russia 5th 20.43 m
European Cup Málaga, Spain 2nd 20.58 m
European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 8th 19.68 m
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 8th 19.79 m
2007 European Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 14th (q) 18.73 m
World Championships Osaka, Japan NM
2008 World Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 13th (q) 19.75 m
Olympic Games Beijing, China 19th (q) 19.81 m
2009 European Indoor Championships Turin, Italy 6th 19.65 m
European Team Championships Leiria, Portugal 2nd 20.39 m
Mediterranean Games Pescara, Italy 1st 20.30 m
World Championships Berlin, Germany 18th (q) 19.80 m
2010 European Championships Barcelona, Spain 23rd (q) 18.08 m
2011 European Indoor Championships Paris, France 19th (q) 18.62 m

References

  1. "Manolo Martínez anunciará su retirada". Marca.
  2. Spain’s former world and European indoor champion Martinez announces his retirement Archived 2012-08-13 at the Wayback Machine. European Athletics (2011-04-29). Retrieved on 201104-30.
  3. Mediterranean Games - GBR Athletics
  4. Summer Universiade. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  5. Ibero-American Championships. GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  6. Manuel Martínez biografía (in Spanish). RFEA. Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  7. Manuel Martínez anuncia su retirada (in Spanish). RFEA (2011-04-29). Retrieved on 2011-04-30.
  8. "Estigmas". Archived from the original on 2009-01-07. Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  9. "Estigmas Dossier". Retrieved 2008-08-10.
  10. "'Supermán' Martínez se quita un peso de encima". Marca. 16 February 2012.
Competition statistics
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