Carolina Klüft

Carolina Kluft, born on 2 February 1983 in Sjomarken, Sweden, is a retired Swedish track and field athlete who dominated the combined events like few others in history. She is the only athlete ever to win three consecutive World Championship titles in the heptathlon, triumphing in 2003, 2005, and 2007, while going unbeaten across 22 heptathlon and pentathlon competitions from 2002 to 2007.

Kluft first rose to prominence by winning the heptathlon at the 2002 European Championships with a world junior record of 6,542 points. She went on to win Olympic gold in the heptathlon at the 2004 Athens Games and holds the European record with a personal best of 7,032 points, ranking her second on the all-time list behind Jackie Joyner-Kersee. She also won the World Indoor pentathlon title, two European heptathlon golds, and two European Indoor pentathlon titles. Beyond combined events, she earned a bronze medal in the long jump at the 2004 World Indoor Championships.

Kluft officially retired on 2 September 2012 at the Finland-Sweden Athletics International, ending a career in which she won nine consecutive major championship gold medals in combined events.