| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British (English) |
| Born | 7 December 1972 Wombwell, England |
| Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) |
| Weight | 65 kg (143 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
| Event(s) | 100 metres Hurdles, 4 × 100 metres relay |
| Club | Wigan Harriers |
Angela Caroline Thorp (born 7 December 1972) is a female British 100 metres hurdler and sprinter who competed at the 1996 Summer Olympics. [1]
Thorp became the British 100 metres hurdles champion after winning the British AAA Championships title at the 1996 AAA Championships. [2]
At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Thorp represented Great Britain in the 100 metres hurdles and women's 4 × 100 metres relay events. [3] She broke the British 100 metres hurdles record of 1992 Olympic Champion Sally Gunnell at the games, [4] running a personal best time of 12.80 seconds in the semi-final finishing 5th. She therefore did not make one of the top four qualifiers for the final. However, the 3rd placed athlete in this semi-final, Nataliya Shekhodanova of Russia, was subsequently disqualified after the final for doping offences which meant that also after the final Thorp was retrospectively upgraded to 4th place in the semi-final. [5] [6] At the games she was also a part of the British team which finished 8th in the 4 x 100 metres relay final.
In 1997, Thorp won both the AAA title at the 1997 AAA Championships [7] and the 1997 British Athletics Championships. [8]
Thorp represented England in the 100 metres hurdles event, at the 1998 Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. [9] [10]
Thorp's British record stood for 15 years until it was broken in 2011 by Tiffany Porter. [11] Thorp said that she was "devastated" at losing her record to an American-born athlete. She said that she would have congratulated an established British athlete who took her record; at the time Jessica Ennis and Sarah Claxton both had personal bests of 12.81s. [12] Ennis later took the British record at the London 2012 Olympic Games. [13]
