Template:Short description Template:Featured article Template:Use dmy dates Template:Use British English Template:Infobox sportsperson
Fatima Whitbread, Template:Post-nominals (Template:Née Vedad; born 3 March 1961) is a British retired javelin thrower. She broke the world record with a throw of Template:T&Fcalc 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. Whitbread went on to win the European title that year, and took the gold medal at the 1987 World Championships. She is also a two-time Olympic medallist, winning bronze at the 1984 Summer Olympics and silver at the 1988 Summer Olympics. She won the same medals, respectively, in the Commonwealth Games of 1982 and 1986.
After a difficult early childhood, Fatima Vedad was adopted by the family of Margaret Whitbread, a javelin coach. Whitbread won the 1977 English Schools' Athletics Championships intermediate title, and was selected for the 1978 Commonwealth Games, where she finished sixth. The following year, she took gold at the 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships. During her career, she had a well-publicised rivalry with another British javelin athlete, Tessa Sanderson. Whitbread's later career was affected by a long-term shoulder injury, which she believed dated back to her world record throw in 1986. The 1990 UK Athletics Championships was the last event in which she participated, sustaining a further shoulder injury there. In 1992 she formally retired from competition.
She was named the Sports Writers' Association Sportswoman of the Year in 1986 and 1987. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1987 Birthday Honours, for services to athletics. She was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1987 and received the BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award in 2023 in recognition of her triumph over the adversity of her childhood, and her continued work on behalf of other children in care environments.
In later years, Whitbread has appeared on several television programmes, including I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! in 2011 and 2023, in which she finished in third place both times.
Early lifeEdit
Fatima Vedad was born on 3 March 1961 in Stoke Newington, London,<ref name="ADIE">Template:Cite book</ref><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> to an unmarried Turkish Cypriot mother and Greek Cypriot father.<ref name="observer.guardian.co.uk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> She said "I was abandoned as a baby and left to die in our flat." After being rescued, severely malnourished, "I spent the next 14 years living in institutions, among other traumatised children",<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> occasionally being left in the care of her abusive biological mother.<ref name="ADIE"/> In a 2003 interview with The Observer, she said, "it was a nightmare of a childhood and it was only because I loved sport so much that I got through it and met my true [adoptive] mother."<ref name="observer.guardian.co.uk"/>
Template:Quote box Vedad started throwing the javelin aged 11.<ref name="TEAMGB"/> According to her account, she had taken up an interest in track and field events after being inspired by the myth of Atalanta, "whom no man could outrun except by cheating, and whose javelin killed a terrible monster"; and by Mary Peters, who won the gold medal at the 1972 Summer Olympics' women's pentathlon.<ref name="FWAUTO">Template:Cite book</ref>Template:Rp Vedad met javelin thrower David Ottley at a stadium and asked him if she could use his javelin. He asked her to wait until the coach arrived. The coach was Margaret Whitbread, a physical education teacher at a local school, whom Vedad had previously met when Whitbread refereed a netball match that she played in. After discovering that Vedad stayed at a children's home, Margaret Whitbread passed on some boots and a javelin from a girl who had retired from the event.<ref name="ADIE"/> Three years later, Vedad was adopted by Margaret Whitbread and her family.<ref name="observer.guardian.co.uk"/> She spent her teenage years in Chadwell St Mary, Essex, where she attended the Torells School in nearby Grays.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref name="SURV"/>Template:Rp
CareerEdit
Early careerEdit
Whitbread won the English Schools' Athletics Championships intermediate title in 1977,<ref name="SCHOOLS"/> and set a national intermediate record of Template:T&Fcalc2 in winning the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA) women's championship the following month.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She placed sixth in the javelin throw at the 1978 Commonwealth Games, throwing Template:T&Fcalc.<ref name="CG"/> Whitbread won gold in the javelin event at the 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships, throwing Template:T&Fcalc.<ref name="WAH" /> She was selected for the 1980 Summer Olympics event,<ref name="TEAMGB"/> but, achieving only Template:T&Fcalc, she failed to qualify for the final.<ref name="SR80" /> At the 1982 Commonwealth Games, Whitbread took the bronze medal, throwing Template:T&Fcalc, which was Template:T&Fcalc behind champion Sue Howland, from Australia.<ref name="CG"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Having finished behind fellow British competitor Tessa Sanderson in a run of 18 competitions, Whitbread finally defeated her rival with a throw of Template:T&Fcalc to win the UK Athletics Championship in 1983,<ref name="HEND">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Whitbread won the silver medal at the inaugural World Championships in 1983, having narrowly qualified for the final.<ref name="HEND"/> She led throughout the final until Tiina Lillak bettered her mark with her last throw of the contest.<ref name="TEAMGB"/> A few days before the 1984 Summer Olympics, Whitbread had a stomach operation but was still able to travel to the Games and compete.<ref name="MAYS">Template:Cite news</ref> She finished in the bronze medal position, with Template:T&Fcalc, and Sanderson (Template:T&Fcalc) won gold.<ref name="WAH"/><ref name="HEND"/><ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> Lillak, who had a stress fracture in her right foot, won the silver medal. After the result, Whitbread commented that "I am so disappointedTemplate:Nbsp... I was not right on the night."<ref name="MAYS"/>
At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in July, Whitbread broke the Games record twice during her first three throws, and led with a distance of Template:T&Fcalc, before Sanderson achieved Template:T&Fcalc and won.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Whitbread sat down crying on the field after the result for around 30 minutes. After the medal ceremony, she commented, while still visibly upset: "12 years of hard work. Still no [gold] medalTemplate:Nbsp... I've waited two long years since [the 1984 Summer Olympics]. And now I'm humiliated."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sanderson, who had placed behind Whitbread in all of their seven post-1984 Olympics meetings before the Games, said "I don't mind losing to Fatima in the smaller competitions, but not in the big ones."<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
World record, and European and World championship winsEdit
The following month, Whitbread broke the javelin world record with a throw of Template:T&Fcalc in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Championships, more than 2 m further than the record set by Petra Felke of East Germany the previous year. She was the first British athlete to set a world record in a throwing event.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Felke led for the first three rounds, before Whitbread produced a throw of Template:T&Fcalc in the fourth round, and Template:T&Fcalc in the fifth round to win her first major championship gold.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Whitbread later wrote that "All the years of training had finally come to somethingTemplate:Nbsp... I went on my lap of honourTemplate:Nbsp... Spontaneously, I wiggled my hips in happiness, a victory wiggle."<ref name="FWAUTO"/>Template:Rp The record was beaten by Felke in July 1987 with a throw of Template:T&Fcalc.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Whitbread qualified for the final of the 1987 World Championships in second place behind Felke.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her throw of Template:T&Fcalc was, at the time, the third-longest ever, and won her the title ahead of Felke. Sanderson was fourth.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Her celebratory wiggles after defeating Felke in the World and European event became well known in the UK. She was voted winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award in 1987.<ref name="BBCa">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> David Powell wrote in The Times, that "To that practiced smile, she has added the 'Whitbread wiggle'. She is succeeding in bringing personality to her event in the same way that Willie Banks did to the triple jump."<ref name="POWELL">Template:Cite news</ref>
Later careerEdit
In the months leading up to the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Whitbread suffered from several ailments: a shoulder injury, boils, glandular fever and problems with her gums.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Whitbread won the silver medal behind Felke,<ref name="HEND"/> with a throw that, although her best of the season, was some four metres less than her rival.<ref name="TEAMGB"/><ref name="MAYS88" /> Whitbread commented "If I had to be beaten, I am glad it was by Petra."<ref name="MAYS88">Template:Cite news</ref>
Whitbread's later career was affected by a long-term shoulder injury, which she believed dated back to her world record throw in 1986. The 1990 UK Athletics Championships was the last event that she participated in, and she sustained a further shoulder injury there. In 1992 she formally retired from competition.<ref name="TEAMGB"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Rivalry with Tessa SandersonEdit
Alan Hubbard wrote in a 1990 article in The Observer about Whitbread and Sanderson that "their hate-hate relationship has been one of the most enduring in British sport," lasting almost a decade.<ref name="HUBBARD"/> In 2009, Tom Lamont commented in The Guardian that "Whitbread and Sanderson were always uneasy rivals and the enmity that developed during their overlapping careers became as famous as their achievements, and seems to survive in their retirement."<ref name="FROZEN">Template:Cite news</ref> Hubbard cited Sanderson's perception that Whitbread received preferential treatment from the British Amateur Athletic Board. The Board's promotions officer, Andy Norman, who had a role in setting British athletes' fees, was a family friend of Whitbread and her mother.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="HUBBARD">Template:Cite news</ref> In 1985, Whitbread often participated in international events but Sanderson took part in only one in the season ending in June 1985. Sanderson claimed that this was because she lacked supporters in the meetings where representatives were determined; she said that "Fatima has Andy Norman looking after her in meetings ... and, of course, her mother, Margaret, is the national event coach".<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 1987, Sanderson threatened to boycott six official athletics events, for which she was to be paid £1,000 each by British Athletics compared to Whitbread's £10,000.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> Sanderson also objected to the Whitbreads' endorsement of Howland, who competed at the 1990 Commonwealth Games after a two-year doping suspension, since Howland was Australian, and Sanderson felt they should have supported British athletes instead.<ref name="HUBBARD" /><ref name="ENGEL90">Template:Cite news</ref>
During their respective careers, Whitbread gained one world and one European title; Sanderson won an Olympic and three Commonwealth golds.<ref name="FIELD">Template:Cite news</ref> In all, Sanderson placed higher in 27 of the 45 times that they faced each other in competition, although Whitbread had the better results of the pair from 1984 to 1987.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1993, coach Peter Lawler favourably compared Whitbread's technique to Sanderson's, writing in IAAF New Studies in Athletics that "the alignments of Whitbread and [Mick] Hill are as straight as a cricket text book's bat. Whitbread perfected the turning on to the shaft while Sanderson often sagged through the delivery."<ref>Template:Cite journal</ref>
Personal lifeEdit
Whitbread wrote in her 2012 autobiography that she began a personal relationship with Andy Norman shortly after his divorce in 1986.<ref name=SURV/>Template:Rp In 1997, Whitbread married Norman in Copthorne, West Sussex.<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> The couple, who had a son together, divorced in 2006. Norman died of a heart attack in 2007.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
Whitbread has published two autobiographies written with Adrianne Blue, Fatima: The Autobiography of Fatima Whitbread in 1988, and Survivor: The Shocking and Inspiring Story of a True Champion in 2012.<ref name="FWAUTO"/><ref name=SURV>Template:Cite book</ref>
Whitbread is a Christian but, in her own words, "not devout."<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Honours and awardsEdit
Whitbread was runner-up to Nigel Mansell in the 1986 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Awards,<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> and won the title the following year.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was named the Sports Writers' Association Sportswoman of the Year in 1986 and 1987.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the 1987 Birthday Honours, for services to athletics.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:London Gazette</ref> Whitbread received the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year Helen Rollason Award, for "outstanding achievement in the face of adversity".<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
In mediaEdit
Whitbread has been a guest on television programmes including A Question of Sport (on which she first appeared in 1984),<ref name="QS84"/> The Little and Large Show (1987 and 1988)<ref name="LL1">Template:Cite news</ref><ref name="LL2">Template:Cite news</ref> and The Wright Stuff (2012).<ref name="BFI">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref> In 1989, she was one of the celebrities with experience of fostering or adoption who took part in Find a Family on ITV. The series featured the celebrities' own reflections, and also highlighted specific children, inviting viewers to contact the programme if they were interesting in fostering or adopting them.<ref name="FAF"/>
In January 1995 Whitbread was interviewed by Andrew Neil, on his one-on-one show Is This Your Life? on Channel 4 which included discussion of Cliff Temple's suicide.<ref name="NBS"/> Writing in The Guardian, Nancy Banks-Smith described how Whitbread had "stonewalled with stoicism and without sweating" and been unclear in her answers about this. Whitbread also spoke about her unhappiness at how Ben Johnson had been treated after being found doping with steroids.<ref name="NBS">Template:Cite news</ref> Neil's treatment of Whitbread attracted viewer complaints.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
She was a featured "masked celebrity" on Celebrity Wrestling in 2005, and lost her bout against Victoria Silvstedt.<ref name="CELW">Template:Cite news</ref>
In November 2011, Whitbread took part in the ITV show [[I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British series 11)|I'm a CelebrityTemplate:Nbsp... Get Me Out of Here!]] Whitbread and fellow campmate Antony Cotton left on 2 December 2011, placing her third.<ref name="IAC">Template:Cite news</ref> One of the challenges on the show involved her wearing a helmet containing about 7,500 cockroaches. The segment was halted after one of the insects crawled up her nose. It was removed by flushing it out through her mouth with water.<ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2012, she was a regular fitness expert appearing on This Morning.<ref name="THISM" /> Later that year, the stand-alone documentary Fatima Whitbread: Growing Up in Care featured Whitbread's reflections on her own troubled childhood, and her conversations with others who had experienced serious problems from their parent and problems with the UK care system. In The Guardian, David Stubbs wrote "More emotional than forensic, this is compulsory viewing nonetheless."<ref name="GROWC"/><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> In 2020, she trekked the Sultans Trail for BBC Two's Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul.<ref name="R2I">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref>
In 2023, she appeared in I'm a Celebrity... South Africa, placing third again after losing the penultimate trial to camp mates Jordan Banjo and Myleene Klass.<ref name="huffingtonpost.co.uk">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation |CitationClass=web }}</ref>
Career statisticsEdit
International competitionsEdit
The table shows Whitbread's performances representing Great Britain and England in international competitions. (q) Indicates overall position in qualifying round.
| Year | Competition | Venue | Position | Distance | Template:Abbr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1978 | Commonwealth Games | Edmonton, Canada | 6th | 49.16 m | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1979 | European Junior Championships | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 1st | 58.20 m | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1980 | Olympic Games | Moscow, Soviet Union | 18th (q) | 49.74 m | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1982 | European Championships | Athens, Greece | 8th | 65.10 m | <ref name="WAH"/> | |
| 1982 | Commonwealth Games | Brisbane, Australia | 3rd | 58.86 m | <ref name="CG"/> | |
| 1983 | World Championships | Helsinki, Finland | 2nd | 69.14 m | <ref name="WAH"/> | |
| 1984 | Olympic Games | Los Angeles, United States | 3rd | 67.14 m | <ref name="WAH"/> | |
| 1985 | IAAF World Cup | Canberra, Australia | 3rd | 65.12 m | <ref name="WAH"/> | |
| 1986 | Commonwealth Games | Edinburgh, United Kingdom | 2nd | 68.54 m | <ref name="CG"/> | |
| 1986 | European Championships | Stuttgart, West Germany | 1st | 76.32 m | <ref name="WAH"/> | |
| 1986 | Grand Prix Final | Rome, Italy | 2nd | 69.40 m | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 1987 | World Championships | Rome, Italy | 1st | 76.64 m | <ref name="WAH"/> | |
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 2nd | 70.32 m | <ref name="WAH"/> |
National titlesEdit
- 1977 English Schools' Athletics Championships (intermediate)<ref name="SCHOOLS">{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- AAA Junior Championships (under 17): 1977<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
- 8 times UK Athletics Champion: 1981, 1982, 1983, 1984, 1985, 1986, 1987, 1988<ref>{{#invoke:citation/CS1|citation
|CitationClass=web }}</ref>
PublicationsEdit
Television and radioEdit
| Year | Programme | Role | Template:Abbr | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1984, 1986 | A Question of Sport | guest | <ref name="QS84">Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref><ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1985 | Cockney Darts Classic | guest | <ref name="BFI"/> | |
| 1987, 1988 | The Little and Large Show | guest | <ref name="LL1"/><ref name="LL2"/> | |
| 1987 | Wogan | guest | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1989 | Find a Family | participant | <ref name="FAF">Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 1995 | Is This Your Life? | guest | <ref name="NBS"/> | |
| 2005 | Celebrity Wrestling | masked celebrity | <ref name="CELW"/> | |
| 2009 | Total Wipeout Celebrity Special | contestant | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2011 | [[I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here! (British series 11)|I'm a CelebrityTemplate:Nbsp... Get Me Out of Here!]] | contestant | <ref name="IAC"/> | |
| 2011 | Celebrity Come Dine with Me | participant | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2011 | Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?Template:Efn | contestant | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2012 | This Morning | fitness expert | <ref name="THISM">Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 2012 | The Wright Stuff | guest | <ref name="BFI"/> | |
| 2012 | Question of Sport | guest | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2012 | Pointless Celebrities | guest | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2012 | Fatima Whitbread: Growing Up in Care | herself | <ref name="GROWC">Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 2015 | Eternal Glory | participant | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 2017 | Pointless Celebrities Template:Efn | guest | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2019 | Holiday of My Lifetime | guest | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2019 | Pointless Celebrities Template:Efn | guest | citation | CitationClass=web
}}</ref> |
| 2020 | Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul | participant | <ref name="R2I"/> | |
| 2022 | Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins | participant | <ref>Template:Cite news</ref> | |
| 2023 | I'm a Celebrity... South Africa | participant | <ref name="huffingtonpost.co.uk"/> |
Explanatory notesEdit
ReferencesEdit
External linksEdit
Template:S-start Template:S-sports Template:S-bef Template:S-ttl Template:S-aft Template:S-end Template:Footer World Champions Javelin Throw Women Template:Footer European Champions Javelin Throw Women Template:Footer UK NC Javelin Women Template:BBC Sports Personality of the Year winners Template:Authority control