Photo: LailaSohila / CC BY-SA 3.0 (source: Wikimedia Commons)

Fatima Whitbread

ファティマ・ウィットブレッド　/　ふぁてぃま・うぃっとぶれっど

Javelin thrower from United Kingdom

March 3, 1961 (age 65)　・　Stoke Newington, United Kingdom

javelin thrower
autobiographer

My Take

Fatima Whitbread is the kind of athlete I find quietly heroic. Setting a world record in the javelin in 1986, and becoming the first British thrower ever to do so, is a feat that doesn't get the headlines of a sprint final but demands extraordinary technique and nerve. What moves me most is the arc beyond sport: an MBE, a BBC Sports Personality award decades apart, and a second career as an autobiographer. That tells me she turned a hard, solitary discipline into a story worth telling. I respect athletes who keep finding new ways to throw themselves forward, long after the medals.

Overview

Fatima Whitbread, (née Vedad; born 3 March 1961) is a British retired javelin thrower. She broke the world record with a throw of 77.44 m (254 ft 3⁄4 in) in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, and became the first British athlete to set a world record in a throwing event.

Summary adapted from Wikipedia, licensed under CC BY-SA 4.0.

1. Profile

Name (English): Fatima Whitbread
Name (Japanese): ファティマ・ウィットブレッド
Reading: ふぁてぃま・うぃっとぶれっど
Born: March 3, 1961 (age 65)
Zodiac / Chinese zodiac: Pisces / Ox
Origin: Stoke Newington, United Kingdom
Blood type: Private
Height: 168 cm
Agency: Private
Occupation: javelin thrower / autobiographer

2. Background

Elementary school: Private
Junior high: Private
High school: Private
University: Private

Awards & achievements

Member of the Order of the British Empire
1986 Bislett medal
1987 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Award
2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award

3. Relationships

Spouse: Private
Children: Private
Parents: Private
Siblings: Private

4. Personality

Motto

Private

6. Links

Autobiographer — see all →　·　More people from United Kingdom →