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The athlete from Beja was the world record holder in the 10,000 meters between 1984 and 1999, setting three European records and more than twenty national records. He participated in three Olympic Games and won a bronze medal at the 1981 cross-country World Championships.
Portuguese Athletics Federation
Fernando Mamede, one of the biggest names in the history of Portuguese athletics and holder of the 10,000 meter world record for five years, died this Tuesday at the age of 74.
“It is with deep regret that we inform and mourn the passing of Fernando Mamede, a unique figure whose career was marked by excellence and dedication, which led him to break a world record in the 10,000 meters, three European and two dozen national records”, announced the Portuguese Athletics Federation on social media.
In addition to the world record for the 10,000 meters, which he held between 1984 and 1989, Mamede, born in Beja, participated in three Olympic Games (Munich 1972, Montreal 1976 and Los Angeles 1984).
Always working for Sporting, a club he joined in 1968 through the also legendary professor Mário Moniz Pereira, Mamede broke 27 national records, three European and one world record, the 10,000 meters, which he lost in 1989 to Mexican Arturo Barrios.
The Alentejo athlete’s mark of 27.13.81 minutes was reached on July 2, 1984, in Stockholm, and lasted until Barrios set the maximum at 27.08.23 five years later, in Berlin.
Even so, more than 40 years later, Mamede remains the last European athlete to hold the 10,000 meter world record.
A specialist in long-distance races, Mamede also won a bronze medal at the 1981 World Cross-Cross Championships in Madrid.
Marcelo praises the multiple achievements and memorable victories
The President of the Republic, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, remembers Fernando Mamede as a “striking and unavoidable figure in Portuguese athletics and sport”.
“It was with regret that the President of the Republic learned of the death of the Olympic athlete Fernando Mamede, a remarkable and unavoidable figure in athletics and national sport and who, among multiple achievements and memorable victories, was the world record holder in the 10,000 meters for many years”, can be read on the official page of the Presidency of the Republic.
According to Portuguese media, which cites sources from the Portuguese Athletics Federation, Fernando Mamade died due to heart complications.
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