Fatima Whitbread

Fatima Whitbread

MBE

Whitbread in 2012
Personal information
Birth name	Fatima Vedad
Born	(1961-03-03) 3 March 1961 (age 63) London, England
Height	1.68 m (5 ft 6 in)[1]
Weight	68 kg (150 lb)[1]
Spouse	Andy Norman ​ ​ (m. 1997; div. 2006)​
Children	1
Parent	Margaret Whitbread (mother)
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Athletics
Event	Javelin throw
Achievements and titles
Personal best	77.44 m (254 ft 3⁄4 in) (1986)
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 British retired javelin thrower. She broke the world record with a throw of 77.44 m (254 ft 3⁄4 in) 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.