Kelly Sotherton
Encyclopedia
Kelly Jade Sotherton is an English
heptathlete
and 400m sprinter
. She was the bronze medal
list at the 2004 Summer Olympics
and was fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics
. She also was a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
, and was the heptathlon gold medal
list at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
. In November 2010, she announced her decision to retire from the heptathlon, due to foot and back injuries. After considering " the Rebecca Romero
route" she then chose instead to focus on the 400 m
. Sotherton's funding from UK Athletics
was cut in 2010 but in 2011 she returned to heptathlon training.
Sotherton was born in Newport
on the Isle of Wight
. As a teenager, she played netball
for Hampshire
, but also won two English Schools’ championships in the heptathlon.
She moved to the Midlands
in order to train with 2000 Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis
. She made her senior British team debut in 2002. She is a member of Birchfield Harriers
athletics club.
The javelin throw
is considered her weakest discipline and has been cited as the main reason for her lack of medals at the 2005 World Championships and 2006 European Championships
.
, which is based in Birmingham
, England
.
She was educated at Ryde High School
and Brunel University
.
at the Summer Olympics
in Athens
behind Carolina Klüft
(gold) and Austra Skujytė
(silver), scoring 6424 points and finishing ahead of defending Olympic champion Lewis, who dropped out due to injury.
She was famously criticised for settling the bronze medal instead of chasing the silver in the final event, the 800m, by her coach Charles van Commenee.
once again behind Klüft.
At Götzis
, Austria
in May Sotherton was again beaten into second, behind the Swede
, but she did record a personal best of 6547 points.
At the AAA's National Championship in July, Sotherton competed in four individual events and took her first senior national title, winning the long jump
with a jump of 6.48 metres.
At the 2005 World Championships
Sotherton had held a medal position going into the sixth event, despite some below average performances, but a disastrous javelin saw her drop out of contention. Sotherton did manage to knock nearly 2.5 seconds off her personal best to win the final 800 m, but despite closing the overall gap on those ahead she only finished fifth.
in Melbourne
. She took gold
with a score of 6396, ahead of Kylie Wheeler
of Australia
(silver) and her team mate Jessica Ennis
(bronze).
In August 2006 she competed for Great Britain
and Northern Ireland
in the hepathlon at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg
. She came seventh ahead of her team mate Jessica Ennis
, after a disappointing javelin event caused her to drop from second.
.
Carolina Klüft led after the hurdles
, but Sotherton and compatriot Jessica Ennis trailed closely behind. The high jump
saw Ennis take the lead over Klüft and Sotherton, with a jump of 1.91, but Sotherton set a personal best for indoors of 1.88. Seven points separated Klüft and Sotherton. In the shot put
, Sotherton took a two-point lead ahead of defending champion Klüft. The long jump saw Klüft take a 24-point lead over the Briton. In the 800 m
, a strong event for Sotherton, she needed to take 1.6 seconds from Klüft to see her beaten for the first time since 2002. Sotherton set a personal best 2:12.54, but Klüft also underscored her previous mark to win by 17 points. This was her smallest winning margin ever. Sotherton took silver, and Karin Ruckstuhl
the bronze. In one of the best pentathlons of all time, many athletes set national records and Klüft and Sotherton rose to second and fourth on the all-time lists respectively. Sotherton also set a Commonwealth record by 200 points.
In 2007, the World Championships were held in the Japan
ese city of Osaka
. Sotherton started the first day with a personal best of 13.21 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles
. She then came within a centimetre of her personal best in the high jump with a 1.86 m performance. A season's best of 14.14 m followed in the shot put and Sotherton ended the day with a second personal best in the 200 m
, with 23.40. On the second day, Sotherton hit 6.68 m in the long jump, to stay in medal contention, but again the javelin saw a weak performance, with Sotherton throwing just 31.90, finishing last. However, Sotherton put in a strong performance in the 800 m, running 2:11.58 to just beat teammate Jessica Ennis to the bronze medal, with 6,510 points.
Sotherton started with a below-par performance in the long jump, allowing Klüft to take the lead. Sotherton then won the 60 m hurdles in a personal best of 8.17 seconds. Despite running a personal best (and the fastest time by a Briton that season) of 52.47 seconds in the 400m, Sotherton took second behind Klüft, who won by 18 points.
After Klüft pulled out of the World Indoor Championships
in Valencia, Sotherton became favourite for the gold medal. She lived up to expectation in the 60 m hurdles, winning in 8.25 seconds. However, Sotherton put in a well below-par berformance in the high jump, achieving only 1.81 m, against Tia Hellebaut
's 1.99 m., and Sotherton slipped to third and then to fifth after the shot put. Sotherton then won the long jump with 6.45 m, moving into second, behind Hellebaut, who set a Belgian record of 6.41 m. Hellebaut held a considerable lead entering the final event, the 800 m. Sotherton needed to beat the Belgian by 7.7 seconds to win gold. Sotherton set a personal best of 2:09.95, with Hellebaut collapsing over the line in 2:16.42, 6.47 seconds behind Sotherton, and the Briton had to again settle for silver.
After Klüft's retirement from heptathlon in 2008, Sotherton had been tipped by many people to take gold at the 2008 Olympics, including Klüft herself. However after a disappointing performance she could only manage 5th place in the competition
. Lyudmila Blonska
was later disqualified for failing a doping test and Sotherton was upgraded to fourth. She had previously labelled Blonska a cheat, and questioned the validity of Blonska's silver medal at the World Championships in 2007. She was also part of the 4 × 400 m relay team which finished fifth in the final.
The following year, Sotherton struggled with injuries and although she was selected for the 2009 European Indoor Championships she had to withdraw due to heel problems. Despite recovering from this injury, her 2010 season was also ruined by injury as her back problems recurred.
indoor arena on 13 February 2011. Overcome at her win, she explained a temporary breakdown at trackside; " When I prolapsed the disc in my back it was career-threatening. I had to make a decision whether to end my career or try something new." It was Sotherton's first national title in a track event.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
heptathlete
Heptathlon
A heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta and athlon . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.-Women's Heptathlon:...
and 400m sprinter
Sprinter
Sprinter can refer to:in sport:* a person who participates in Sprint running* a cycling sprinter* Open-wheeled Sprint car racingmotor vehicles:* the Mercedes-Benz Sprinter , a cargo van...
. She was the bronze medal
Bronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
list at the 2004 Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
and was fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
. She also was a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics
2007 World Championships in Athletics
The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007...
, and was the heptathlon gold medal
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
list at the 2006 Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
. In November 2010, she announced her decision to retire from the heptathlon, due to foot and back injuries. After considering " the Rebecca Romero
Rebecca Romero
Rebecca Jayne Romero MBE is an English sportsperson, a former World Champion and Olympic Games medallist at rowing, and a former World champion and reigning Olympic champion track cyclist.-Biography:...
route" she then chose instead to focus on the 400 m
400 metres
The 400 metres, or 400 metre dash, is a common sprinting event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 . On a standard outdoor running track, it is exactly one lap around the track. Runners start in staggered positions and...
. Sotherton's funding from UK Athletics
UK Athletics
UK Athletics is the governing body for the sport of athletics in the United Kingdom. It is responsible for overseeing the governance of athletics events in the UK as well as athletes, their development, and athletics officials....
was cut in 2010 but in 2011 she returned to heptathlon training.
Sotherton was born in Newport
Newport, Isle of Wight
Newport is a civil parish and a county town of the Isle of Wight, an island off the south coast of England. Newport has a population of 23,957 according to the 2001 census...
on the Isle of Wight
Isle of Wight
The Isle of Wight is a county and the largest island of England, located in the English Channel, on average about 2–4 miles off the south coast of the county of Hampshire, separated from the mainland by a strait called the Solent...
. As a teenager, she played netball
Netball
Netball is a ball sport played between two teams of seven players. Its development, derived from early versions of basketball, began in England in the 1890s. By 1960 international playing rules had been standardised for the game, and the International Federation of Netball and Women's Basketball ...
for Hampshire
Hampshire
Hampshire is a county on the southern coast of England in the United Kingdom. The county town of Hampshire is Winchester, a historic cathedral city that was once the capital of England. Hampshire is notable for housing the original birthplaces of the Royal Navy, British Army, and Royal Air Force...
, but also won two English Schools’ championships in the heptathlon.
She moved to the Midlands
English Midlands
The Midlands, or the English Midlands, is the traditional name for the area comprising central England that broadly corresponds to the early medieval Kingdom of Mercia. It borders Southern England, Northern England, East Anglia and Wales. Its largest city is Birmingham, and it was an important...
in order to train with 2000 Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis
Denise Lewis
Denise Lewis OBE is a retired British athlete who specialised in the heptathlon. She won the gold medal in the heptathlon at the 2000 Sydney Olympics.-2000 Olympics:...
. She made her senior British team debut in 2002. She is a member of Birchfield Harriers
Birchfield Harriers
Birchfield Harriers is an athletics club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, England.Named after the Birchfield district of Birmingham, their previous home , at nearby Perry Barr, was Alexander Sports Ground. It still carries their badge, a running stag, rendered in...
athletics club.
The javelin throw
Javelin throw
The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon...
is considered her weakest discipline and has been cited as the main reason for her lack of medals at the 2005 World Championships and 2006 European Championships
2006 European Championships in Athletics
The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit"...
.
Personal life
Sotherton trains at the grounds of the athletics club Birchfield HarriersBirchfield Harriers
Birchfield Harriers is an athletics club, founded in 1877. Its home is at Birmingham's Alexander Stadium, England.Named after the Birchfield district of Birmingham, their previous home , at nearby Perry Barr, was Alexander Sports Ground. It still carries their badge, a running stag, rendered in...
, which is based in Birmingham
Birmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
.
She was educated at Ryde High School
Ryde High School
Ryde Academy is a academy status secondary school, including sixth form, located in Ryde on the Isle of Wight, England, previously Ryde High School. A private school in the same town is known as Ryde School.-History:...
and Brunel University
Brunel University
Brunel University is a public research university located in Uxbridge, London, United Kingdom. The university is named after the Victorian engineer Isambard Kingdom Brunel....
.
2004
She gained international recognition in 2004 when she unexpectedly won a bronze medalBronze medal
A bronze medal is a medal awarded to the third place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The practice of awarding bronze third place medals began at the 1904 Olympic Games in St...
at the Summer Olympics
2004 Summer Olympics
The 2004 Summer Olympic Games, officially known as the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad, was a premier international multi-sport event held in Athens, Greece from August 13 to August 29, 2004 with the motto Welcome Home. 10,625 athletes competed, some 600 more than expected, accompanied by 5,501 team...
in Athens
Athens
Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state...
behind Carolina Klüft
Carolina Klüft
Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004...
(gold) and Austra Skujytė
Austra Skujyte
Austra Skujytė is a Lithuanian athlete, competing in both the heptathlon and the decathlon. On 15 April 2005 in Columbia, Missouri, she broke the women's decathlon world record, with a score of 8366....
(silver), scoring 6424 points and finishing ahead of defending Olympic champion Lewis, who dropped out due to injury.
She was famously criticised for settling the bronze medal instead of chasing the silver in the final event, the 800m, by her coach Charles van Commenee.
2005
In March 2005 she competed in the European Indoor Championships, where she took silverSilver medal
A silver medal is a medal awarded to the second place finisher of contests such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, and contests with similar formats....
once again behind Klüft.
At Götzis
Götzis
Götzis is a town in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg, district Feldkirch.The town is well-known for its annual hypo-combined events meeting, the so called Hypo-Meeting, where some of the world's leading decathletes and heptathletes gather in the Mösle stadium...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
in May Sotherton was again beaten into second, behind the Swede
Sweden
Sweden , officially the Kingdom of Sweden , is a Nordic country on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. Sweden borders with Norway and Finland and is connected to Denmark by a bridge-tunnel across the Öresund....
, but she did record a personal best of 6547 points.
At the AAA's National Championship in July, Sotherton competed in four individual events and took her first senior national title, winning the long jump
Long jump
The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point...
with a jump of 6.48 metres.
At the 2005 World Championships
2005 World Championships in Athletics
The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of...
Sotherton had held a medal position going into the sixth event, despite some below average performances, but a disastrous javelin saw her drop out of contention. Sotherton did manage to knock nearly 2.5 seconds off her personal best to win the final 800 m, but despite closing the overall gap on those ahead she only finished fifth.
2006
In March 2006 Kelly Sotherton competed for England in the hepathlon at the Commonwealth Games2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
in Melbourne
Melbourne
Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater...
. She took gold
Gold medal
A gold medal is typically the medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture...
with a score of 6396, ahead of Kylie Wheeler
Kylie Wheeler
Kylie Wheeler is a retired Australian heptathlete.Wheeler is a four-times Australia national champion in heptathlon in 2003, 2004, 2005 and 2006...
of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
(silver) and her team mate Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles...
(bronze).
In August 2006 she competed for Great Britain
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
and Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland
Northern Ireland is one of the four countries of the United Kingdom. Situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, it shares a border with the Republic of Ireland to the south and west...
in the hepathlon at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg
Gothenburg
Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area...
. She came seventh ahead of her team mate Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis
Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles...
, after a disappointing javelin event caused her to drop from second.
2007
2007 saw Great Britain host the European Indoor Championships, in BirminghamBirmingham
Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
.
Carolina Klüft led after the hurdles
Hurdling
Hurdling is a type of track and field race.- Distances :There are sprint hurdle races and long hurdle races. The standard sprint hurdle race is 110 meters for men and 100 meters for women. The standard long hurdle race is 400 meters for both men and women...
, but Sotherton and compatriot Jessica Ennis trailed closely behind. The high jump
High jump
The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years....
saw Ennis take the lead over Klüft and Sotherton, with a jump of 1.91, but Sotherton set a personal best for indoors of 1.88. Seven points separated Klüft and Sotherton. In the shot put
Shot put
The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action....
, Sotherton took a two-point lead ahead of defending champion Klüft. The long jump saw Klüft take a 24-point lead over the Briton. In the 800 m
800 metres
The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps...
, a strong event for Sotherton, she needed to take 1.6 seconds from Klüft to see her beaten for the first time since 2002. Sotherton set a personal best 2:12.54, but Klüft also underscored her previous mark to win by 17 points. This was her smallest winning margin ever. Sotherton took silver, and Karin Ruckstuhl
Karin Ruckstuhl
Karin Nathalie Ruckstuhl is a Dutch heptathlete.-Biography:Her first major championship was the 2002 European Athletics Championships and she finished 13th in the heptathlon...
the bronze. In one of the best pentathlons of all time, many athletes set national records and Klüft and Sotherton rose to second and fourth on the all-time lists respectively. Sotherton also set a Commonwealth record by 200 points.
In 2007, the World Championships were held in the Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
ese city of Osaka
Osaka
is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe...
. Sotherton started the first day with a personal best of 13.21 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles
100 metres hurdles
The 100 m hurdles are an Olympic track and field athletics discipline run by women . For the race ten hurdles of a height of 83.8 cm are placed evenly spaced along a straight course of 100 meters. They are positioned so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner...
. She then came within a centimetre of her personal best in the high jump with a 1.86 m performance. A season's best of 14.14 m followed in the shot put and Sotherton ended the day with a second personal best in the 200 m
200 metres
A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first...
, with 23.40. On the second day, Sotherton hit 6.68 m in the long jump, to stay in medal contention, but again the javelin saw a weak performance, with Sotherton throwing just 31.90, finishing last. However, Sotherton put in a strong performance in the 800 m, running 2:11.58 to just beat teammate Jessica Ennis to the bronze medal, with 6,510 points.
2007 World Championships Results (25–26 August)
| Event | Result | Position | Points | Overall Position | Extra |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 metres hurdles 100 metres hurdles The 100 m hurdles are an Olympic track and field athletics discipline run by women . For the race ten hurdles of a height of 83.8 cm are placed evenly spaced along a straight course of 100 meters. They are positioned so that they will fall over if bumped into by the runner... |
13.21 secs (PB) | 3rd (PB) | 1093 | 3rd | Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles... wins (12.97, PB); Carolina Klüft Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004... 2nd (13.15, PB) (both ran in her heat) |
| High Jump High jump The high jump is a track and field athletics event in which competitors must jump over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without the aid of certain devices in its modern most practiced format; auxiliary weights and mounds have been used for assistance; rules have changed over the years.... |
1.86 m | 4th | 1054 | 4th | Carolina Klüft Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004... wins (1.95 m, PB); Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles... is 3rd (1.89 m) |
| Shot put Shot put The shot put is a track and field event involving "putting" a heavy metal ball—the shot—as far as possible. It is common to use the term "shot put" to refer to both the shot itself and to the putting action.... |
14.14m (SB) | 9th | 803 | 3rd | |
| 200 metres 200 metres A 200 metres race is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 m track, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques are needed to successfully run the race. A slightly shorter race, called the stadion and run on a straight track, was the first... |
23.40 secs (PB) | 3rd | 1039 | 3rd | Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles... wins (23.15, PB); Klüft Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004... 2nd (23.38, SB) (both ran in her heat) |
| Long jump Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point... |
6.68m (PB) | 3rd | 1066 | 3rd | Lyudmila Blonska Lyudmila Blonska Lyudmyla Leonydivna Blonska , née Shevchuk is a Ukrainian heptathlete, long jumper and 2006 World Indoor champion pentathlete. She was given a lifetime ban from competition after failing a drug test at the 2008 Summer Olympics, her second doping offense.-Life and career:Blonska practiced rhythmic... wins (6.88m, PB); Klüft Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004... 2nd (6.85m, SB) |
| Javelin Javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field athletics throwing event where the object to be thrown is the javelin, a spear approximately 2.5 metres in length. Javelin is an event of both the men's decathlon and the women's heptathlon... |
31.90m (SB) | 32nd | 513 | 4th | Lilli Schwarzkopf wins (54.44m, PB); Klüft Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004... 7th (47.98m, SB) |
| 800 metres 800 metres The 800 meter race is a common track running event. It is the shortest common middle distance track event. The 800 meter is run over two laps of the track and has always been an Olympic event. During indoor track season the event is usually run on a 200 meter track, therefore requiring four laps... |
2:11.58 | 3rd | 942 | 3rd | Sotherton lead for most of the way, but Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles... proved stronger to win the race in 2:11.39. |
| Heptathlon Heptathlon A heptathlon is a track and field athletics combined events contest made up of seven events. The name derives from the Greek hepta and athlon . A competitor in a heptathlon is referred to as a heptathlete.-Women's Heptathlon:... |
6510 | 3rd | Klüft Carolina Klüft Carolina Evelyn Klüft is a Swedish athlete competing in triple jump, long jump and formerly in heptathlon and pentathlon. She won the Olympic heptathlon title in 2004... set a European Record of 7,032 to win from Blonska Lyudmila Blonska Lyudmyla Leonydivna Blonska , née Shevchuk is a Ukrainian heptathlete, long jumper and 2006 World Indoor champion pentathlete. She was given a lifetime ban from competition after failing a drug test at the 2008 Summer Olympics, her second doping offense.-Life and career:Blonska practiced rhythmic... , while Ennis Jessica Ennis Jessica Ennis, MBE is a British track and field athlete specialising in multi-eventing disciplines and 100m hurdles... finished fourth. |
2008–09
In February 2008, Sotherton competed in a three-event triathlon, at the Indoor Grand Prix, in Birmingham, against a field including Carolina Klüft.Sotherton started with a below-par performance in the long jump, allowing Klüft to take the lead. Sotherton then won the 60 m hurdles in a personal best of 8.17 seconds. Despite running a personal best (and the fastest time by a Briton that season) of 52.47 seconds in the 400m, Sotherton took second behind Klüft, who won by 18 points.
After Klüft pulled out of the World Indoor Championships
2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships
The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7-9, 2008.-Bid:Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, Russia.-Men:...
in Valencia, Sotherton became favourite for the gold medal. She lived up to expectation in the 60 m hurdles, winning in 8.25 seconds. However, Sotherton put in a well below-par berformance in the high jump, achieving only 1.81 m, against Tia Hellebaut
Tia Hellebaut
Tia Hellebaut is a Belgian track and field athlete who started out in the heptathlon, but afterwards specialized in the high jump event. She has cleared 2.05 metres both indoors and outdoors....
's 1.99 m., and Sotherton slipped to third and then to fifth after the shot put. Sotherton then won the long jump with 6.45 m, moving into second, behind Hellebaut, who set a Belgian record of 6.41 m. Hellebaut held a considerable lead entering the final event, the 800 m. Sotherton needed to beat the Belgian by 7.7 seconds to win gold. Sotherton set a personal best of 2:09.95, with Hellebaut collapsing over the line in 2:16.42, 6.47 seconds behind Sotherton, and the Briton had to again settle for silver.
After Klüft's retirement from heptathlon in 2008, Sotherton had been tipped by many people to take gold at the 2008 Olympics, including Klüft herself. However after a disappointing performance she could only manage 5th place in the competition
Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's heptathlon
-Results:-Heat 1:-Heat 2:-Heat 3:-Heat 4:-Heat 5:-Group A:-Group B:-Group A:...
. Lyudmila Blonska
Lyudmila Blonska
Lyudmyla Leonydivna Blonska , née Shevchuk is a Ukrainian heptathlete, long jumper and 2006 World Indoor champion pentathlete. She was given a lifetime ban from competition after failing a drug test at the 2008 Summer Olympics, her second doping offense.-Life and career:Blonska practiced rhythmic...
was later disqualified for failing a doping test and Sotherton was upgraded to fourth. She had previously labelled Blonska a cheat, and questioned the validity of Blonska's silver medal at the World Championships in 2007. She was also part of the 4 × 400 m relay team which finished fifth in the final.
The following year, Sotherton struggled with injuries and although she was selected for the 2009 European Indoor Championships she had to withdraw due to heel problems. Despite recovering from this injury, her 2010 season was also ruined by injury as her back problems recurred.
2011
Sotherton completed "the first step of her reinvention as a 400m specialist", with a victory in the 400m final in 53.46 sec, at the English Institute of Sport - SheffieldEnglish Institute of Sport - Sheffield
The English Institute of Sport is a multi-sport facility in Sheffield, England. The facility designed by was opened in December 2003 at a cost of £24 million. Its main feature is a 200 m indoor track but it also hosts several other sporting arenas as well as a large gym and extensive sports...
indoor arena on 13 February 2011. Overcome at her win, she explained a temporary breakdown at trackside; " When I prolapsed the disc in my back it was career-threatening. I had to make a decision whether to end my career or try something new." It was Sotherton's first national title in a track event.
Personal bests
| Event | Data |
|---|---|
| 200 m | 23.39 secs |
| 400 m (indoor) | 52.47 secs |
| 800 m | 2mins 07.94 secs |
| 100 m hurdles | 13.18 secs |
| High jump | 1.87 m |
| Long jump | 6.79 m |
| Shot put | 14.66 m |
| Javelin | 40.81 m |
| Pentathlon (indoor) | 4927 points |
| Heptathlon | 6547 points |
Achievements
| Representing | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1997 | Island Games International Island Games Association The International Island Games Association is an organisation the sole purpose of which is to organise the Island Games, a friendly biennial athletic competition between teams from several European islands and other small territories. The IGA liaises with the member island associations and with... |
Jersey Jersey Jersey, officially the Bailiwick of Jersey is a British Crown Dependency off the coast of Normandy, France. As well as the island of Jersey itself, the bailiwick includes two groups of small islands that are no longer permanently inhabited, the Minquiers and Écréhous, and the Pierres de Lecq and... , Channel Islands Channel Islands The Channel Islands are an archipelago of British Crown Dependencies in the English Channel, off the French coast of Normandy. They include two separate bailiwicks: the Bailiwick of Guernsey and the Bailiwick of Jersey... |
1st | 100 m | GR (12.02 seconds) |
| 100 m hurdles | GR (14.39 seconds) | ||||
| Long jump Long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength, and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a take off point... |
GR (5.84 m) | ||||
| European U23 Championships 1997 European Athletics U23 Championships The 1997 European Athletics U23 Championships is the 1997 version of the European Athletics U23 Championships. It was held in the Finnish city of Turku.-Men's Results:-Women's Results:-Medals table:-External links:*... |
Turku Turku Turku is a city situated on the southwest coast of Finland at the mouth of the Aura River. It is located in the region of Finland Proper. It is believed that Turku came into existence during the end of the 13th century which makes it the oldest city in Finland... , Finland |
10th | Heptathlon | ||
| 2002 | Commonwealth Games Athletics at the 2002 Commonwealth Games At the 2002 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held at the City of Manchester Stadium from the 26–30 July 2002. The route for the marathon event crossed Manchester city centre and finished in the stadium. The race walk events began alongside the Lowry Centre at Salford Quays... |
Manchester Manchester Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater... , England |
7th | Heptathlon | |
| 2004 | European Indoor Cup 2004 European Athletics Indoor Cup The 2004 European Athletics Indoor Cup was held on 14 February 2004 at the Arena Leipzig in Leipzig, Germany. It was the second edition of the indoor track and field meeting for international teams, which featured the eight top performing nations from the 2003 European Cup... |
Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig Leipzig has always been a trade city, situated during the time of the Holy Roman Empire at the intersection of the Via Regia and Via Imperii, two important trade routes. At one time, Leipzig was one of the major European centres of learning and culture in fields such as music and publishing... , Germany |
4th | Long jump | |
| European Cup | Bydgoszcz, Poland | 2nd | Long jump | ||
| Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2004 Summer Olympics At the 2004 Summer Olympics, the athletics events were held at the Athens Olympic Stadium from August 18 to August 29, except for the marathons , the race walks , and the shot put... |
Athens Athens Athens , is the capital and largest city of Greece. Athens dominates the Attica region and is one of the world's oldest cities, as its recorded history spans around 3,400 years. Classical Athens was a powerful city-state... , Greece |
3rd | Heptathlon | ||
| 2005 | European Indoor Championship | Madrid Madrid Madrid is the capital and largest city of Spain. The population of the city is roughly 3.3 million and the entire population of the Madrid metropolitan area is calculated to be 6.271 million. It is the third largest city in the European Union, after London and Berlin, and its metropolitan... , Spain |
2nd | Pentathlon | |
| World Championships 2005 World Championships in Athletics The 10th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held in the Olympic Stadium, Helsinki, Finland , the site of the first IAAF World Championships in 1983. One theme of the 2005 championships was paralympic sports, some of... |
Helsinki Helsinki Helsinki is the capital and largest city in Finland. It is in the region of Uusimaa, located in southern Finland, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland, an arm of the Baltic Sea. The population of the city of Helsinki is , making it by far the most populous municipality in Finland. Helsinki is... , Finland |
8th | Long jump | ||
| 5th | Heptathlon | ||||
| 2006 | Commonwealth Games Athletics at the 2006 Commonwealth Games At the 2006 Commonwealth Games, the athletics events were held in Melbourne, Australia from 19 March to 25 March 2006. A total of 47 events were contested, of which 24 by male and 23 by female athletes. Furthermore, three men's and three women's disability events were held within the programme... |
Melbourne Melbourne Melbourne is the capital and most populous city in the state of Victoria, and the second most populous city in Australia. The Melbourne City Centre is the hub of the greater metropolitan area and the Census statistical division—of which "Melbourne" is the common name. As of June 2009, the greater... , Australia |
1st | Heptathlon | |
| European Cup | Malaga Málaga Málaga is a city and a municipality in the Autonomous Community of Andalusia, Spain. With a population of 568,507 in 2010, it is the second most populous city of Andalusia and the sixth largest in Spain. This is the southernmost large city in Europe... , Spain |
5th | Long jump | ||
| European Championships | Gothenburg Gothenburg Gothenburg is the second-largest city in Sweden and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated on the west coast of Sweden, the city proper has a population of 519,399, with 549,839 in the urban area and total of 937,015 inhabitants in the metropolitan area... , Sweden |
7th | Heptathlon 2006 European Athletics Championships – Women's heptathlon The women's heptathlon at the 2006 European Athletics Championships were held at the Ullevi on August 7 and August 8.Biggest drama occurred on the first day as Eunice Barber, who was leading after high jump, had to stop because of injury. After that no one could challenge Klüft, who took first gold... |
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| 8th (qualifiers) | Long jump | ||||
| World Athletics Final 2006 IAAF World Athletics Final The 4th IAAF World Athletics Final was held at the Gottlieb-Daimler-Stadion in Stuttgart, Germany on September 9 and September 10, 2006.-Results:-External links:*... |
Stuttgart Stuttgart Stuttgart is the capital of the state of Baden-Württemberg in southern Germany. The sixth-largest city in Germany, Stuttgart has a population of 600,038 while the metropolitan area has a population of 5.3 million .... , Germany |
8th | Long jump | ||
| 2007 | European Indoor Championships | Birmingham Birmingham Birmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a... , United Kingdom |
2nd | Pentathlon | |
| World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007... |
Osaka Osaka is a city in the Kansai region of Japan's main island of Honshu, a designated city under the Local Autonomy Law, the capital city of Osaka Prefecture and also the biggest part of Keihanshin area, which is represented by three major cities of Japan, Kyoto, Osaka and Kobe... , Japan |
3rd | Heptathlon | ||
| 2008 | World Indoor Championships 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships The 2008 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Athletics were held at the Luis Puig Palace in Valencia, Spain, March 7-9, 2008.-Bid:Valencia was announced the winning bidder by the IAAF on November 13, 2005 at an IAAF Council meeting in Moscow, Russia.-Men:... |
Valencia, Spain | 2nd | Pentathlon | |
| Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics were held during the last 10 days of the games, from August 15 to August 24, 2008, at the Beijing National Stadium. The Olympic sport of athletics is split into four distinct sets of events: track and field events, road running events, and racewalking... |
Beijing Beijing Beijing , also known as Peking , is the capital of the People's Republic of China and one of the most populous cities in the world, with a population of 19,612,368 as of 2010. The city is the country's political, cultural, and educational center, and home to the headquarters for most of China's... , China |
4th | Heptathlon | ||
| 5th | 4×400 m relay | ||||