Fatima Whitbread

Fatima Whitbread
MBE

Whitbread in 2012
Personal information
Birth name	Fatima Vedad
Nationality	Great Britain
Born	(1961-03-03) 3 March 1961 (age 60) London, England
Home town	Stoke Newington, London, England
Height	5 ft 6 in (1.68 m)
Weight	10 st 10 lb (68 kg)
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Javelin throw
Achievements and titles
Personal best(s)	77.44 (1986)
hide Medal record Women's Athletics Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 1988 Seoul Javelin 1984 Los Angeles Javelin World Championships 1987 Rome Javelin 1983 Helsinki Javelin European Championships 1986 Stuttgart Javelin Representing  England Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh Javelin 1982 Brisbane Javelin

Fatima Whitbread MBE (née Vedad; 3 March 1961) is a retired British athlete and former javelin thrower. She won the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, having broken the world record with a throw of 77.44 metres in the qualifying round the previous day. She went on to win the 1987 World Championships in Rome. She is also a two-time Olympic medallist, winning bronze at the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics and silver at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Her former world record throw makes her one of only two women in history to have thrown the javelin (old model) over 75 metres.

Early life[]

Whitbread was born in Stoke Newington, London,^[1] to a Turkish Cypriot mother and Greek Cypriot father.^[2] Speaking in 2020 on the BBC2 television programme Pilgrimage: the Road to Istanbul she said that both her parents were from Istanbul. She grew up in a series of children's homes, occasionally being left in the care of her abusive biological mother. In a 2003 interview with The Observer, Whitbread 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 mother."^[2]

At the age of 14, she was adopted by the family of Margaret Whitbread, her javelin coach.^[2] She spent her teenage years in Chadwell St Mary, Essex and they holidayed in a caravan park at Burnham-on-Crouch.^[3]

Career[]

Whitbread broke the javelin world record with a throw of 77.44m in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Championships in Athletics (where she also won the final) and became World Champion in 1987. She became well known in the UK for her celebratory wiggle after defeating arch-rival Petra Felke in these events. Her performances in 1987 led to her being voted winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.^[4]

Whitbread had won the silver medal at the inaugural World Championships in 1983. She was also known for her rivalry with fellow British javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson, who won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles with Whitbread finishing in bronze medal position. In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Whitbread won the silver medal behind Petra Felke, who had broken the world record in the interim.^{[citation needed]}

Whitbread is a one-time governor of King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, Essex. According to a November 2008 Daily Express article, she owns her own company and is involved with the stadium being used after the 2012 Summer Olympics.^[specify][5]

Personal life[]

In 1997, Whitbread married Andrew Norman in Copthorne, West Sussex^[6] where Fatima had regularly been attending St John's so that their wedding could be near Gatwick Airport for the international sporting wedding guests.^[7] They had a son who was born in the late 1990s.^[8] The couple divorced in 2006. Norman, who represented many athletes professionally, died of a heart attack in 2007.^[9]

Whitbread's autobiography, Survivor, was published in 2012.^[10]

In media[]

On 28 January 1995 Whitbread was interviewed at length by Andrew Neil, on his one-on-one interview show Is This Your Life, produced by Open Media for Channel 4.^[11] The Guardian described this interview: "Fatima stonewalled with stoicism and without sweating. Her strong defence was that sportsman's speciality, mangled language. It was often far from clear what she meant. When Neil raised the question of [her fiancé's suicide] she said: "It's very sad but this question keeps rising on the fact that it came through myself." Then there was the muscular subject of steroids. She was unusually passionate on the question of Ben Johnson. "You call him a cheat. He's a cheat. But he decided to cheat therefore I don't agree with the way he was treated after." (Anyone follow that?)"^[12]

On 26 December 2009, Whitbread took part in a celebrity version of the TV show Total Wipeout.^{[citation needed]} She also appeared on an episode of Celebrity Come Dine with Me on 2 September 2011.^[13] On 19 December 2011, Whitbread appeared on a Christmas edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? partnered with Russell Watson. It was rumoured that she had been hired as This Morning's new fitness expert^[14] and made her first appearance on 5 January 2012.

On 21 July 2012, Whitbread appeared with Sharron Davies in the BBC One quiz show Pointless Celebrities which aired on 26 May 2012. On 21 July 2012, she was a contestant on an Olympians edition of ITV's The Cube. In 2014, she appeared on Celebrity Blockbusters on Challenge, and the following year took part in the ITV sports show Eternal Glory, but was the first celebrity to be eliminated.

I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here![]

Starting on 13 November 2011, Whitbread took part in the ITV show I'm a Celebrity...Get Me Out of Here!. Whitbread and fellow campmate Antony Cotton left after 21 days on 2 December 2011, placing her third.

International competitions[]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing  Great Britain /  England
1978	Commonwealth Games	Edmonton, Canada	6th	49.16 m
1979	European Junior Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	1st	58.20 m
1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	18th (q)	49.74 m
1982	European Championships	Athens, Greece	8th	65.10 m
	Commonwealth Games	Brisbane, Australia	3rd	58.86 m
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	2nd	69.14 m
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	3rd	67.14 m
1985	World Cup	Canberra, Australia	3rd	65.12 m
1986	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, United Kingdom	2nd	68.54 m
	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	1st	76.32 m
	Grand Prix Final	Rome, Italy	2nd	69.40 m
1987	World Championships	Rome, Italy	1st	76.64 m
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	2nd	70.32 m
(q) Indicates overall position in qualifying round.

References[]

External links[]

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fatima Whitbread.

• Fatima Whitbread on Twitter
• Thurrock Local History Society – Fatima Whitbread

Sporting positions
Preceded by Petra Felke	Women's Javelin Best Year Performance 1984–1985	Succeeded by Petra Felke