Zita Ajkler

Zita Ajkler (born June 9, 1975) is a Hungarian long jumper. She is a 16-time Hungarian national champion in the long jump, triple jump, heptathlon, and 100-meter hurdles. Her personal best is 676 cm in the long jump and 13.99 m in the triple jump (the national record is 14.00 m); 13.75 s in 100-meter hurdles (wind-1.2), 8.35 s in 60-meter hurdles, and 5,323 points in the heptathlon.

Zita Ajkler
Ajkler working as a commentator at the 2010 European Athletics Championships
Personal information
National teamHungary
CitizenshipHungarian
BornPásztó,[1] Nógrád County, Hungary
OccupationSports commentator
EmployerEurosport
Sport
CountryHungary
SportLong jump
Retired2010/2014

Ajkler began by pole vaulting recreationally, achieved 360 cm in training after 3 months of practice, but never competed in this event. Her first big achievement was in 1998, at the European Athletics Championships in Budapest, where she came in 6th with a personal best of 664 cm. She reached 6th place again in Vienna at the indoor European Athletics Championships in 2002. Ajkler has competed during two Olympic Games: Sydney 2000 and Athens 2004; she did not reach the finals, however.

Ajkler competed three times at the World University Games: 1999 - Mallorca, 2001 - Beijing, and 2003 - Daegu (long jump, triple jump, and 4X100-meter relay in all competitions). She reached the finals (top 8) in all events. Her best result was winning 3rd in 2003 in the long jump. Her worst result was getting 7th place in 2001, triple jump.

In 2004 she injured her left foot before the Games and couldn't recover for 18 months. She started to train once more in 2005. Four days before her first competition in January 2006, she broke her right ankle. She couldn't return with full health after two surgeries at the end of 2007, but still tried to reach the Olympic qualification level in 2008. This was set at 665 cm but Ajkler only jumped 645 cm, thus missing her third chance at the Olympics.

Zita Ajkler competes at the 1998 European Athletics Championships in Budapest

In 2010, Ajkler won the European Masters Championships in Nyíregyháza in the triple jump and came 2nd in the long jump. She retired from competing but returned and competed for the last time in 2014 at the indoor World Masters Championships in Budapest. She won in the triple jump as well as in the long jump. Following this, she ended her sport career as a track and field athlete.

Ajkler now works for television sports network Eurosport in Hungary. She is a commentator for track and field, figure skating, and extreme sports. She is also a physical conditioning and coordination coach, helping the national women's sabre team.

Achievements

YearCompetitionVenuePositionEventNotes
Representing  Hungary
1998 European Championships Budapest, Hungary 6th Long jump 6.64 m
1999 Universiade Palma de Mallorca, Spain 5th Long jump 6.46 m
2000 European Indoor Championships Ghent, Belgium 12th (q) Long jump 6.29 m
Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 24th (q) Long jump 6.36 m
2001 Universiade Beijing, China 4th Long jump 6.51 m
7th Triple jump 13.69 m
2002 European Indoor Championships Vienna, Austria 6th Long jump 6.48 m
21st (q) Triple jump 13.34 m
European Championships Munich, Germany 15th (q) Long jump 6.16 m
2003 Universiade Daegu, South Korea 3rd Long jump 6.38 m
6th Triple jump 13.42 m
2004 World Indoor Championships Budapest, Hungary 16th (q) Long jump 6.44 m
Olympic Games Athens, Greece 26th (q) Long jump 6.39 m
2006 European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 23rd (q) Triple jump 12.42 m

Personal bests

  • Triple jump - 13.99 m (2002)
  • Long jump - 6.76 m (2004)

References

  1. "Olympic Athletes Born in Pásztó, Nógrád, Hungary". sports-reference.com. 10 August 2018. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 27 October 2019.


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