Melissa Bishop-Nriagu

Melissa Bishop

Bishop at the 2016 Olympics
Personal information
Nationality	Canadian
Born	(1988-08-05) August 5, 1988 Eganville, Ontario
Height	173 cm (5 ft 8 in)
Weight	56 kg (123 lb)
Sport
Sport	Athletics
Event	800 metres
College team	University of Windsor
Achievements and titles
Personal bests	400 m: 56.46s, Ottawa, 2004 800 m: 1:57.02s NR, Rio de Janeiro, 2016 1000 m: 2:38.75s , Amsterdam, 2014
Medal record Representing Canada World Championships 2015 Beijing 800 m Pan American Games 2015 Toronto 800 m Jeux de la Francophonie 2013 Nice 4x400 m 2013 Nice 800 m

Melissa Bishop (born August 5, 1988) is a Canadian runner who specialises in the 800 metres. She competed in the 2012 and 2016 Olympics, and won a silver medal at the 2015 World Athletics Championships. Her World Championship medal was the first ever medal in the 800 by a Canadian woman. Bishop 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 the women's 800 m.

Career

At the 2012 Summer Olympics, Bishop placed sixth in her heat and did not advance to the semi-finals. At her next major sport event the 2015 Pan American Games located in her home country of Canada. There Bishop competed in the 800 in Toronto, in the final she ran a 1:59.62 to win the gold and title as Pan Am champion. Of the home crowd Bishop 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."

Bishop 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, this was a record set by Diane Cummins which had stood for 14 years. In the final a race characterized by several pace changes up and down saw Bishop 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."

The 2016 Summer Olympics saw Bishop compete as a part of Canada's Olympic team. Bishop 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 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 Margaret Wambui would pass Bishop for bronze in the final 50 m, beating her by 0.13s. A teary eyed Bishop 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."

Personal life

Born in Eganville, Ontario, Bishop lives by Lake Dore with her parents, Alison and Doug Bishop.

Achievements

• 2nd, 800 meters; 2015 Beijing, World Championships, China
• 2nd, 2012 National Championships, Calgary, Canada (Olympic "A" Standard).
• Personal Best: 1:57.02 – Canadian record (800 m outdoor); Rio de Janeiro, Summer Olympics, Final, August 20, 2016

External links

• Melissa Bishop-Nriagu at World Athletics