Nafi Thiam
To be great seven times
In the heptathlon it’s not enough to be good just once, you have to be great seven times ! That’s precisely where Nafi Thiam exceeds. The Belgian athlete is both proud and awestruck to find herself suddenly catapulted among the world’s top sports competitors.
‘The heptathlon is the most complex discipline in athletics, and its competitors are considered the most versatile sportspeople. What enticed me to work with Nafi was her vision and her approach to performance. She has a strong analytical sense and does not rush herself. I endorse the idea that it is most important to look for ways to surpass yourself in order to become the best and accept whatever time this might take.’
The most complex discipline in athletics
Nafi’s impressive track record makes her one of the best heptathletes in the world. The 2013 Junior European Athletics Champion went on to win the IAAF Rising Star of the Year trophy in 2016, followed by the Female Athlete of the Year trophy in 2017, both awarded by the International Association of Athletics Federations. In 2017, Nafi became the third-best female heptathlete of all time, with a total of 7,013 points. That same year, she was crowned World Champion in London. In 2018, she swept to victory at the European Championships. Three years later, she won gold in the pentathlon at the European Indoor Championships in Toruń (Poland). Add to this her 2022 World Championships win in the heptathlon and her world record in the pentathlon a year later, and you’re still only at the start of her impressive career.
Nafi was the first female athlete to join the Richard Mille athletes team in 2018. She wears an automatic lightweight and resistant model, the RM 07-04 Automatic Sport.
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‘I am delighted to work with this extraordinary team with whom I share the same desire to always aim higher and push limits. Heptathlon is a sport that demands a certain mental resilience. You can’t fall apart, you have to know how to pull yourself together. I think it’s very brave for Richard Mille to show an interest in it as an up-and-coming discipline. I want to be at the top of my game to make sure our partnership stands the test of time.’
