Incubator escapee wiki

Sharron Davies

Article Discussion

Template:Short description Template:EngvarB Template:Use dmy dates Template:Similar names Template:Infobox swimmer

Sharron Elizabeth Davies, Template:Postnominals (born 1 November 1962) is an English former competitive swimmer who represented Great Britain in the Olympics and European championships<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and competed for England in the Commonwealth Games. Davies has attended 12 consecutive Olympic Games, competing in three games<ref name=":0">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> and then working in the media for the BBC Sport.

She competed in three Olympic Games<ref name=":0" /> over three decades, 1970s, 1980s and 1990s.<ref>Template:Cite Sports-Reference</ref> She also competed in the international community spanning over 20 years.

Since retiring from the sport, she has worked for various media organisations and programmes. In 2005, Davies supported the British Olympic bid by profile-raising and appearing as spokesperson on BBC's Question Time where she made a strong case for bringing the games to London for 2012. Davies is a current patron of the Disabled Sport England and SportsAid. She was also the face of the Swim for Life charity event which raised total over £10m for many charities. She has publicly expressed her opinions on transgender people in sports.

Early lifeEdit

Davies was born in Plymouth, Devon, and grew up in Plymouth and Plymstock. She has twin brothers. She attended Plymstock Comprehensive School and the private school Kelly College, which is now known as Mount Kelly, in Tavistock.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

She originally learnt to swim with Devonport Royal Swimming Association. She moved to Port of Plymouth Swimming Association when she was eight and was coached for the first year first by Ray Bickley then by her father Terry Davies who became a coach.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name=":1">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Her father was added in 2021 to the Coaches Association Hall of Fame.<ref name=":1" />

SwimmingEdit

She set a record by swimming for the British national team at the age of 11. In 1976, at age 13, Davies was selected to represent Great Britain at the 1976 Summer Olympics in Montreal. The next year she won two bronze medals in the 1977 European Championships. The following year, at age 15, she won gold medals at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in the 200 and 400-metre individual medleys and also a silver and a bronze medal.<ref name="wiltshirelive">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

In the 1980 Olympics, Davies took the silver medal in the 400 m individual medley behind Petra Schneider from East Germany, who later admitted that the victory was drug enhanced.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

At 18, Davies called time on the first stage of her swimming career to build her television profile and a career in modelling. In 1989, and training at Bracknell & Wokingham Swimming Club, she returned to the pool, where she picked up two more medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games.<ref name="wiltshirelive" />Template:Failed verification

Medals and awardsEdit

Davies has broken or re broken many British records whilst competing and winning<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="Sharron Davies">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> For medals table, see Medal record.

  • silver medal in the 400-metre individual medley at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow<ref name=":0" />
  • two gold, two silver and two bronze medals at the Commonwealth Games in 1978<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref> and 1990.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>

  • two bronze medals at European Championships<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Davies held the Commonwealth Record for 400-metre individual medley for 18 years. She has broken five World Masters records.<ref name="Sharron Davies"/>

In the latest development in the story of the East German state-run doping programme, The Times broke the news in 2021 of a possibility that the bronze and silver medals won may be upgraded to gold.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

At the ASA National British Championships she won 22 titles – the 100 metres freestyle title in 1978, 200 metres freestyle title in 1977 and 1978, 400 metres freestyle title in 1977, 1978 and 1979, 800 metres freestyle title in 1978, 200 metres backstroke title in 1976, 1977 and 1978, 200 metres medley title in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1980, 1989 and 1992, 400 metres medley title in 1976, 1977, 1978, 1979 and 1980 and the 50 metres butterfly title in 1992.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In the 1993 New Year Honours, Davies was appointed Member of the Order of the British Empire "for services to swimming".<ref name="LG 30 December 1992">Template:London Gazette</ref>

Politics and activismEdit

Davies is a supporter of the Conservative Party and endorsed Kemi Badenoch in the July–September 2022 Conservative Party leadership election.<ref>Template:Cite tweet</ref>

Davies is known for her views on gender identity and trans rights, and has been associated with the gender-critical movement. She has expressed concerns about the impact of self-identification on women's sport and spaces, arguing that it may disadvantage cisgender women. These views have generated significant debate and controversy.

In 2019, Davies made comments about participation by trans women in women's sport, opposing such participation and saying that trans women hold a biological advantage in sports.<ref name="indy">Template:Cite news</ref> She became involved in the question of trans women in sport because at the 1980 Olympics she lost out on gold to Petra Schneider who, along with other East German athletes, had been put on testosterone to enhance their performances through doping.<ref>Template:Cite magazine</ref>

In a tweet posted on 21 December 2019, Davies expressed her disapproval of drag shows, comparing them to blackface.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed The statement drew criticism with some commentators finding her comparison to blackface inappropriate and disrespectful of the fight against racism.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In response to the criticism, Davies clarified that her comment was not intended to be understood as racist. In April 2025, shortly after the death of transgender female drag performer and activist Bianca Castro-Arabejo (Jiggly Caliente), Davies responded to a BBC News obituary for Castro-Arabejo by posting, "When will this stop? Endless drag stories. I'd love to know who's responsible?", which attracted criticism from other X users including actress Faye Wheeler, who replied, "You are a heartless person."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 2022, Davies said that trans women hold a potential biological male performance advantage at the elite level of 10–20% over cisgender women and called for women's sport to exclude XY chromosome athletes.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In March, she wrote a column for The Times arguing that trans women's advantage is the result of going through male puberty, resulting in a narrower angle between the hips and knees which testosterone reduction does not eliminate, and called for trans women to compete in an open category rather than being excluded from competition entirely.<ref name=":2">Template:Cite news</ref> In the same article, she stated: "This month we saw an athlete, Lia Thomas, who was an average club swimmer as a man claim an NCAA title as the US No 1 woman with 20 years of male development in the tank."<ref name=":2" />

In her 2023 book, Unfair Play: The Battle for Women’s Sport, Davies argues against the inclusion of trans women in women's sport.<ref name="Melanie Reid">Template:Cite news</ref> Davies compares trans women competing in women's sport to the drug-enhanced performances of GDR women that competed against her and other women, like Ann Osgerby.<ref>Template:Cite book</ref> In September 2023, Davies was reported to be leading a campaign aiming to question Members of Parliament (MPs) on camera about their understanding of the term "woman" and publishing their responses online.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> The "What Is A Woman?" campaign claims that its volunteers are trained to approach MPs, seeking clarification of their positions on camera.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed

In 2023, Davies criticised and called for a boycott of sportswear brand Nike after Dylan Mulvaney, a trans woman, promoted a Nike sports bra on social media.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

Publications, media programmes and other workEdit

Template:Prose

File:Sharron Davies.png
Sharron Davies in the 1983 series The Optimist
File:Royal Yacht Squadron Mermaid.jpg
Bronze statue of a mermaid, modelled by Davies, on the sea wall of the Royal Yacht Squadron, Cowes, Isle of Wight
  • Swimming biography Against the Tide published in 1984<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Learn to Swim in a Weekend (1992, translated into multiple languages)<ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Channel 4 television comedy series The Optimist, in an episode that was filmed entirely on location on Mexico
  • This Morning – presenting a mums and babies learning to swim series on ITV
  • Question Time – discussing the winning Olympic bid for London 2012 which Davies was part of
  • 1996 presented Channel 4's The Big Breakfast
  • 1995 she joined ITV's Gladiators being given the nickname "Amazon"
  • 1995 with Julia Thorley, book Pregnant and Fit <ref>Template:Cite book</ref>
  • Presenter of Ace Reports, ITV's version of Blue Peter
  • Survived on The Island with Bear Grylls
  • 1994 – a "British Girls of Sport" calendar, raising money for the Sports Aid Foundation
  • Guest dart player, throwing for charity, on British game show Bullseye
  • Presenting and commentating on swimming coverage for the BBC (extended to other sports for the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics)
  • 2008 presented with Jim Rosenthal on Five's latest revival of the long running celebrity sports competition Superstars<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation

|CitationClass=web }}</ref>

Personal lifeEdit

In the 1980s, Davies lived with and was engaged to Neil Adams<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> an Olympic and World Championship medallist in judo.

Davies then married gym manager John Crisp in West Sussex in 1987. They were divorced in 1991.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

In 1992, she met athlete Derek Redmond at the Barcelona Olympics. In 1994 they were married in Northampton, and had two children. They divorced in 2000.<ref name=telegraph>Template:Cite news</ref>

Davies's third marriage was to British Airways pilot Tony Kingston.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Better source needed They were married in 2002 in Gloucestershire.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>Template:Failed verification In autumn 2006, she announced that she was three months pregnant after 8 rounds of IVF treatment, having been trying for a baby for four years and suffering two miscarriages. During a Sport Relief event in Devon, she said: "We're very optimistic and happy but we're cautious, too, because of what we have been through. Giving birth at 44 doesn't worry me. So many women go through this as they leave it later to have babies." Davies gave birth to her third child on 30 January 2007. She separated from Kingston in 2009 after seven years of marriage.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>

See alsoEdit

ReferencesEdit

Template:Reflist

External linksEdit

 | name/{{#if:{{#invoke:ustring|match|1=0203974|2=^nm}}
   | Template:Trim/
   | nm0203974/
   }}
 | {{#if: {{#property:P345}}
   | name/Template:First word/
   | find?q=%7B%7B%23if%3A+%0A++++++%7C+%7B%7B%7Bname%7D%7D%7D%0A++++++%7C+%5B%5B%3ATemplate%3APAGENAMEBASE%5D%5D%0A++++++%7D%7D&s=nm
   }}
 }}{{#if: 0203974  {{#property:P345}} | {{#switch: 
 | award | awards = awards Awards for | biography | bio = bio Biography for
 }}}} {{#if: 
 | {{{name}}}
 | Template:PAGENAMEBASE
 }}] at IMDb{{#if: 0203974{{#property:P345}}
 | Template:EditAtWikidata
 | Template:Main other

}}{{#switch:{{#invoke:string2|matchAny|^nm.........|^nm.......|nm|.........|source=0203974|plain=false}} 

 | 1 | 3 =  Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning
 | 4 = Template:Main otherTemplate:Preview warning

}}{{#invoke:Check for unknown parameters|check|unknown=Template:Main other|preview=Page using Template:IMDb name with unknown parameter "_VALUE_"|showblankpositional=1| 1 | 2 | id | name | section }}

Template:Footer Commonwealth Champions 200m Medley Women Template:Footer Commonwealth Champions 400m Medley Women Template:Authority control

Retrieved from "https://zalansite.site/mediawiki/index.php?title=Sharron_Davies&oldid=389713"