Athletics-The late Mbulaeni Mulaudzi

CAPE TOWN, Oct 24 (Reuters) - Factbox on former world 800 metres champion Mbulaeni Mulaudzi who was killed in a car accident in South Africa on Friday. DATE OF BIRTH Born on Sept. 8, 1980 in Muduluni, Limpopo province, South Africa LATE STARTER Mulaudzi said he only focused fully on athletics at the age of 17 when he represented Northern Province (now Limpopo) in the South African National Championships. Won national schools 800 metres title in 1998 and a year later was crowned national junior champion and also lifted the African junior crown at the same distance. After claiming a silver medal at the 2000 African Championships in Algiers, he shot to international prominence two years later by winning 800 gold at the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. Won 800 gold at the 2004 World Indoor Championships in Budapest and collected silver medals at the same competition in Moscow in 2006 and Valencia two years later. FLAG BEARER Mulaudzi was chosen to carry the South African flag at the opening ceremony in the 2004 Athens Olympics after missing out on a place in the team at the Sydney Games four years earlier. Won an 800 silver medal in Athens which turned out to be the highlight of his Olympic career after he failed to qualify from the semi-finals in Beijing in 2008 and did not post a quick enough time to earn a place at London 2012. After an injury-ravaged 2005 he rose to number one in the world in 2006, becoming the first black South African athlete to head the rankings in their discipline. Mulaudzi won 800 gold at the IAAF World Athletics Final in Stuttgart in 2006, silver at the same meet in the same venue in 2007 and bronze two years later in Salonika. LAST GOLD His last major gold medal came at the 2009 World Championships in Berlin, winning in a time of 1:45.29. That was some way off his personal 800 metres best of 1:42.86 set in Rieti on Sept. 6, 2009. Retired from competitive athletics in 2013. Mulaudzi was killed in a car accident on his way to an Athletics South Africa meeting in Johannesburg on Oct. 24. (Compiled by Nick Said, editing by Tony Jimenez)