Quick Facts
Biography
Carla Cristina Paquete Sacramento, OIH (born December 10, 1971 in São Sebastião da Pedreira) is a middle distance runner from Portugal.
Biography
Carla Sacramento has won medals at a variety of distances but her speciality is the 1500 m. She won the IAAF World Championships in Athletics in 1997 in Athens after having won a bronze medal in the 1995 championships.
She won her first national title in 1986 when she was only fifteen years old. She and Fernanda Ribeiro both excelled at a national level as young girls and have dominated Portuguese middle and long distance running since. Sacramento has run under 2 minutes for 800 m and 4 minutes for 1500 m many times, both of which marks are thought of as benchmarks of world class running.
Sacramento competes for the Portuguese club Maratona Clube de Portugal but lives in Madrid. Her family is of Sao Tome origin. A track was named in her honour in Portugal.
She won the inaugural edition of the Oeiras International Cross Country race in 2000.
Major achievements
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Event | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Representing  Portugal | |||||
| 1988 | World Junior Championships | Sudbury, Canada | 11th (sf) | 800 m | 2:07.24 |
| 1989 | European Junior Championships | Varaždin, Yugoslavia | 4th | 800 m | 2:04.58 |
| 9th (h) | 4x400 m relay | 3:43.68 | |||
| 1990 | World Junior Championships | Plovdiv, Bulgaria | 4th | 800 m | 2:04.83 |
| 4th | 1500 m | 4:15.29 | |||
| Ibero-American Championships | Manaus, Brazil | 4th | 800m | 2:04.85 | |
| 3rd | 1500m | 4:15.06 | |||
| 1992 | European Indoor Championships | Genoa, Italy | 4th | 800 m | 2:02.90 |
| – | 1500 m | DNF | |||
| Olympic Games | Barcelona, Spain | 14th (sf) | 800 m | 2:02.85 | |
| 16th (sf) | 1500 m | 4:05.54 | |||
| 1993 | World Indoor Championships | Toronto, Canada | 7th | 1500 m | 4:13.41 |
| World Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 26th (h) | 800 m | 2:03.74 | |
| 11th | 1500 m | 4:09.15 | |||
| 1994 | European Indoor Championships | Paris, France | 3rd | 800 m | 2:01.12 |
| European Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 6th | 800m | 2:00.01 | |
| 6th | 1500m | 4:20.62 | |||
| 1995 | World Indoor Championships | Barcelona, Spain | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:13.02 |
| World Championships | Gothenburg, Sweden | 3rd | 1500 m | 4:03.79 | |
| 1996 | European Indoor Championships | Stockholm, Sweden | 1st | 1500 m | 4:08.95 |
| Olympic Games | Atlanta, United States | 6th | 1500 m | 4:03.91 | |
| 1997 | World Indoor Championships | Paris, France | 5th | 1500 m | 4:06.33 |
| World Championships | Athens, Greece | 1st | 1500 m | 4:04.24 | |
| Universiade | Catania, Italy | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:10.40 | |
| 1998 | Ibero-American Championships | Lisbon, Portugal | 1st | 1500 m | 4:17.43 |
| European Championships | Budapest, Hungary | 2nd | 1500 m | 4:12.62 | |
| 1999 | World Championships | Seville, Spain | 5th | 1500 m | 4:01.29 |
| 2000 | Olympic Games | Sydney, Australia | 10th | 1500 m | 4:11.15 |
| 2001 | World Indoor Championships | Lisbon, Portugal | 4th | 1500 m | 4:11.76 |
| World Championships | Edmonton, Canada | 4th | 1500 m | 4:03.96 | |
| Goodwill Games | Brisbane, Australia | 3rd | Mile | 4:39.18 | |
| 2002 | European Indoor Championships | Vienna, Austria | 2nd | 3000 m | 8:53.96 |
| European Championships | Munich, Germany | 12th | 1500 m | 4:17.01 | |
| 2003 | World Championships | Paris, France | 21st (sf) | 1500 m | 4:13.14 |
| 2004 | Olympic Games | Athens, Greece | 22nd (sf) | 1500 m | 4:10.85 |
- In addition, she finished in the top ten at the World Cross Country Championships.
Personal bests
- 400 m 54.07 (1997)
- 800 m 1:58.94 (1997)
- 1500 m 3:57.71 (1998)
- 3000 m 8:30.22 (1999)
- 5000 m 15:52.54 (2000)
- 10 km 33:46(1997)