It was known as our athletics family – we all felt seen, heard and embraced. Magical memories for all those that competed in those years of women’s athletics! I was fortunate to find the love of the Whitbread family at 14,’ explaining this came about through sport being her ‘saviour’. Is she married? Fatima Vedad is a retired British javelin thrower who is excellently known as Fatima Whitbread. She is well recognized for winning the event at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart where she broke the world record with a throw of 77.44 meters in the qualifying round the previous day. She began throwing the javelin aged 11. She set a world record for the javelin throw in 1986, and the next year she won a gold medal at the World Championships. Fatima was named the Sports Writers’ Association Sportswoman of the Year in 1986 and 1987 and was named the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1987. She also enjoyed considerable success in the 1988 Olympics in Seoul as she won the silver medal behind Petra Felke. Besides, she has also starred in several television programs, including “I’m a Celebrity … Get Me Out of Here!” in 2011. In 2020, she starred in the TV series “Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul”. Fatima Whitbread Famous For

Holiday of My Lifetime with Len Goodman". BBC. Archived from the original on 20 December 2017 . Retrieved 13 June 2022.She was a featured "masked celebrity" on Celebrity Wrestling in 2005, and lost her bout against Victoria Silvstedt. [59] a b Stubbs, David (7 August 2012). "TV highlights 08/08/2012: Fatima Whitbread: Growing Up In Care". The Guardian . Retrieved 13 June 2022. Read, Julian (9 May 2016). "Joe Pasquale: Essex boy at heart". Great British Life. Archived from the original on 28 November 2021 . Retrieved 28 November 2021.

Whitbread was aware of the comments in the media about her muscular physique. Did she care about that? “It’s tools for the job,” she says of her body. Had she been taller, maybe her muscles wouldn’t have been so noticeable, but she was “stubby”, she says, laughing. “But I didn’t care, because I loved what I did and that’s what it took for me to succeed. I didn’t take notice; I was just proud of my work ethos. But sometimes they could be unkind.” She became the winner of gold in the javelin event at the 1979 European Athletics Junior Championships, throwing 58.20 m (190 ft 11+1⁄4 in), and was selected for the 1980 Summer Olympics event, but, achieving only 49.74 m (163 ft 2+1⁄4 in), she failed to qualify for the final.

The rivalry was real – although Whitbread says her main rival was East Germany’s Petra Felke – but the media amped it up. Sanderson, who is a few years older, had been Whitbread’s idol. Whitbread says she would have liked to have been friends. “I thought there’s nothing better than to be able to have a good friendship in an event where you can pull together. But everyone’s different, aren’t they? The media, what they instigated, it didn’t lend itself very well [to friendship].” Fatima proceeded to Dilkes County Primary School in her early years and attended Culverhouse Secondary School after that. Carving A Niche At the 1986 Commonwealth Games in July, Whitbread broke the Games record twice during her first three throws, and led with a distance of 68.54m ( 224ft 10 + 1⁄ 4in), before Sanderson achieved 69.80m (229ft 0in) and won. [18] 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] medal ... I've waited two long years since [the 1984 Summer Olympics]. And now I'm humiliated." [19] 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." [20] World record, and European and World championship wins [ edit ] a b "Cotton and Whitbread voted off Celebrity". Raidió Teilifís Éireann. 3 December 2011. Archived from the original on 13 June 2022 . Retrieved 13 June 2022. I am proud to be amongst some of the very best of British women athletes that helped to bring athletics out of amateurism into professionalism and created a platform from which our current day athletes benefit from today.

Whitbread began training hard. “I started taking more responsibility for myself,” she says. “You have a whole lot of people that help you, but I’ve got to get myself out at 5am, down the gym, three times a day training, seven days a week.” She trained in a wooden shed at the bottom of the garden of a family friend. She smiles when she talks about how different facilities are now: “I wouldn’t have had it any other way. I loved every minute of it.” Moving to Fatima’s education, she attended the Torells School in nearby Grays. Fatima Whitbread Career (British athlete) Field, Pippa (16 August 2019). "Tessa Sanderson on race, rivalry and modelling – Exclusive interview". The Daily Telegraph. pp.6–7.

Did You Know?

Fatima Whitbread is a former world champion javelin thrower who successfully won silver and bronze at the 1988 Seoul Olympic Games and the 1984 Los Angeles Olympic Games. Aside from her history in sport, Fatima also holds a reputation as an event host and after her long sporting career, she has pursued a career within after-dinner speaking. One of Fatima’s greatest achievements is when she broke the javelin world record, with an astonishing throw of 77.44m at the 1986 European Championships. Due to such an incredible performance at these events Fatima was crowned the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award. a b Rajani, Deepika (10 April 2020). "Pilgrimage: The Road to Istanbul line-up: cast, when it's on BBC One tonight and the route they take". i (newspaper). Archived from the original on 4 April 2022 . Retrieved 4 April 2022. She was a regular fitness expert appearing on “This Morning” in 2012 and trekked the Sultans Trail for BBC Two’s “Pilgrimage: Road to Istanbul” in 2020.