By Prudence Minayo
Athing Mu is a young American athlete of Sudanese descent who has been breaking records ever since she stepped into the world of athletics. Her most recent triumph was when she won gold at the 800m race in the Tokyo 2020 Olympics held this year. The 19 year old showed pure talent as an athlete and her gold medal win for the USA was a defining historic moment in her life. Three years before her entry into the big stage, Athing Mu broke the American indoor 600m record at 1:23.57 making her intent clear that she was a force to be reckoned with.
Age and Background
She was born on 8th June 2002. Mu was born in Trenton, New Jersey in a family of seven siblings where she is the second youngest. She took an interest in the sport after following her older siblings in the tracks where they trained. One of her brothers, Malual, runs track at Penn State University. Her parents moved to the United States from South Sudan over 20 years ago. Her parents did manual jobs to cater for the family.
Career
In February 2019, she took part in a 600m event at the USA indoor track and field championships. She finished number one at a record time of 1:23.59, and broke the American’s women record.
In February 2021, she ran in the women’s 400m at 50.52 and was not able to meet the standard for world record ratification.
Towards the end of February, she ran in the 800 metres at 1:58.40 and set an indoor collegiate and world under 20 record.
In June 2021 at the NCAA Championships in Oregon she won the 400m at 49.57. Athing Mu then anchored the Texas A&M women’s 4×400m relay squad to victory.
With a time of 1:56:07, she qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics in the 800m category. This was the second fastest result in American history.
In the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021, she won a historic gold medal after finishing at 1:55:21. This was a sweet moment as the US had won gold at the 800m more than five decades ago when Madeline Manning won it at the 1968 Summer Olympics.
Athing Mu agent is Wex Felix who is known to represent and advise some of the biggest names in sports.
Deal with Nike And Estimated Earning Per Year
According to an agent quoted by runnersworld.com, the athlete will take home a base salary of USD500,000 TO USD750,000 per year. This will be exclusive of bonuses for medals and records.
