Mercedes Chilla

Mercedes Chilla López (born January 19, 1980 in Jerez de la Frontera, Cádiz) is a javelin thrower from Spain. She has represented Spain at two Summer Olympics (2004 and 2008) and has also competed at the World Championships in Athletics. Chilla is the Spanish record holder for the event, with a best mark of 64.07 metres, and has won medals at the Mediterranean Games and the Ibero-American Championships.

In this Spanish name, the first or paternal surname is Chilla and the second or maternal family name is López.

Career

She first reached the international podium at the 2003 Summer Universiade, where she took the bronze medal. She attended her first Olympic competition at the 2004 Athens Games and she was 22nd overall. In 2005, she enjoyed success at the regional level with another javelin bronze at the 2005 Mediterranean Games and she improved on her previous global competition performance with a fifteenth-place finish at the 2005 World Championships in Athletics.

Her 2006 season saw her gain a slew of European honours, starting with a bronze at the 2006 European Cup Winter Throwing and another third-place finish at the 2006 European Cup. She completed a trio of bronze medal performances by reaching the podium at the 2006 European Athletics Championships. She capped off a successful season with a personal best and Spanish record throw of 63.20 metres at the Herculis meeting in August 2006.

She suffered a number of injuries between 2008 and 2010, interrupting her international career, but she still managed ninth place at the 2008 Beijing Olympics and eleventh place at the 2009 World Championships in Athletics. She took the javelin gold at the 2010 Ibero-American Championships in Cádiz, nearing her top form with a winning throw of 62.39 m.[1] Chilla improved her Spanish record the following week, throwing 64.07 m to win at the Liga de Clubes de División de Honor meeting in Valencia, Spain.[2] This mark made her fifth in the world rankings and demonstrated her potential to return to the podium at the 2010 European Athletics Championships.[3]

Achievements
YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Spain
1998 World Junior Championships Annecy, France 23rd (q) Javelin throw (old spec.) 45.45 m
1999 European Junior Championships Riga, Latvia 10th Javelin throw 51.03 m
2000 Ibero-American Championships Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 3rd Javelin throw 55.99 m
2001 European U23 Championships Amsterdam, Netherlands 2nd Javelin throw 57.78 m
Universiade Beijing, China 6th Javelin throw 53.32 m
Mediterranean Games Radès, Tunisia 6th Javelin throw 51.44 m
2002 Ibero-American Championships Guatemala City, Guatemala 4th Javelin throw 57.74 m
2003 Universiade Daegu, South Korea 3rd Javelin throw 55.94 m
2004 Ibero-American Championships Huelva, Spain 5th Javelin throw 54.34 m
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 22nd (q) Javelin throw 58.45 m
2005 Mediterranean Games Almería, Spain 3rd Javelin throw 57.69 m
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 15th (q) Javelin throw 58.38 m
2006 European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 3rd Javelin throw 61.98 m
2007 World Championships Osaka, Japan 27th (q) Javelin throw 53.64 m
2008 Olympic Games Beijing, China 9th Javelin throw 58.13 m
2009 World Championships Berlin, Germany 11th Javelin throw 56.68 m
2010 Ibero-American Championships San Fernando, Spain 1st Javelin throw 62.39 m
European Championships Barcelona, Spain 6th Javelin throw 61.40 m
2011 World Championships Daegu, South Korea 17th (q) Javelin throw 58.34 m
2014 European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 10th Javelin throw 57.91 m

References
  1. Valiente, Emeterio (2010-06-07). Murer vaults 4.85m Area Record as Cuba and Spain dominate in San Fernando – Ibero-American Championships report. IAAF. Retrieved on 2010-06-07.
  2. Chilla bate su récord de jabalina. El Mundo (2010-06-12). Retrieved on 2010-06-23.
  3. 'I am feeling the same way as I did four years ago, when I won the medal in Göteborg,' says Spain's Chilla Archived 2010-06-26 at the Wayback Machine. European Athletics (2010-06-23). Retrieved on 2010-06-23.
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