Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Nationality | English | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Born | Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland | 14 May 1968|||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | High jump | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Deborah Jane Marti (born 14 May 1968) is a former high jumper from England, who was born in Switzerland. She represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, finishing ninth in the 1992 final. She set her outdoor personal best of 1.94 metres, on 9 June 1996 at a meet in Tallinn. On 23 February 1997 in Birmingham, she cleared 1.95 metres to set a British indoor record, which stood for 17 years (1997–2014). [1] She also won bronze medals at the 1983 European Junior Championships and the 1994 Commonwealth Games.
Marti was born in Zofingen, Aargau, Switzerland and from the age of two, was raised in England. She was a member of Bromley Ladies Athletics Club. A prodigious talent, Marti cleared 1.81 m at the age of fourteen in 1982 before achieving 1.88 m at 15 in 1983 to win a European Junior Championships bronze medal. This still stands as a UK age 15 best. The following year she improved to 1.89 m and was unlucky not to earn selection for the 1984 Olympic Games. Her 1.89 m stood as a UK Under 17 record for 29 years until Morgan Lake cleared 1.90 m in 2013.
Marti's career was then slowed by the debilitating illness ME. She withdrew from the 1985 World Indoor Games. In 1986, she finished ninth in the final of the World Junior Championships. From 1985 – 1990, her best result was 1.86 m. [2]
Marti returned to top form in 1991, when she improved her 6+1⁄2-year-old PB to 1.94 during the indoor season, to equal Diana Davies's UK indoor record. She went on to clear 1.91 m to finish a fine fifth in the final at the World Indoor Championships in Seville. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, she failed to reach the final, clearing 1.86 m in the qualifying round. In 1992, she competed at her first Olympic Games in Barcelona, where she achieved an outdoor PB of 1.92 m in the qualifying round before clearing 1.91 m for ninth in the final. She remained the last British woman to reach an Olympic high jump final until Morgan Lake qualified for the 2016 final in Rio. [3] Shortly after the 1992 Games, she improved her outdoor best to 1.93 m.
Marti would continue as the UK's most consistent jumper for several years, although she was forced to withdraw from the 1993 World Championships due to injury. In 1994 she cleared 1.91 m to win a bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Victoria, Canada. In 1996, she achieved her lifetime outdoor best of 1. 94 m. She cleared this height in both Tallinn in June, then again in Birmingham in July, at the British Olympic Trials. At the Atlanta Olympics, she failed to reach the final with a best of 1.85 m, for 19th overall in qualification.
Marti reached her peak indoors in 1997, by clearing 1.95 m at the Birmingham indoor Grand Prix, to add one centimetre to the UK indoor record that she held jointly with Diana Davies and Jo Jennings. This height was also equal to the UK outdoor record. The record stood for 17 years, until Katarina Johnson-Thompson cleared 1.96 m on 8 February 2014. Also that year she reached the World Indoor Championship final in Paris and competed at the World Championships in Athens.
After a few low key years, Marti concluded her international career by finishing sixth at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Ashia Hansen, is a retired British triple jumper. Fourth in the 1996 Olympic final, she broke the world indoor record when winning the 1998 European Indoor title, and went on to win gold medals at the World Indoor Championships in 1999 and 2003, at the Commonwealth Games in 1998 and 2002, and at the 2002 European Championships. Her British records of 15.15 metres and 15.16 metres, still stand.
Debbie Arden Brill, is a Canadian high jump athlete who at the age of 16 became the first North American woman to clear 6 feet. Her reverse jumping style—which is now almost exclusively the technique of elite high jumpers—was called the Brill Bend and was developed by her when she was a child, around the same time as Dick Fosbury was developing the similar Fosbury Flop in the US. Brill won gold in the high jump at the 1970 Commonwealth Games, and at the Pan American Games in 1971. She finished 8th in the 1972 Summer Olympics, then quit the sport in the wake of the Munich massacre, returning three years later. She won gold at the IAAF World Cup in 1979 and at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. She has held the Canadian high jump record since 1969, and set the current record of 1.99 meters in 1982, a few months after giving birth to her first child.
Steinar Hoen is a retired Norwegian high jumper. He represented IK Tjalve during his senior career. He has been the meeting director for the Bislett Games since 2007. His indoor and outdoor bests are both 2.36 m – these are also the Norwegian records for the event.
Šárka Kašpárková is a Czech former track and field athlete who specialised in the triple jump.
Chaunté Lowe is an American athlete who competes in the high jump. A four-time Olympian, she is the 2008 Olympic bronze medalist, the 2005 World Championship silver medalist and the 2012 World Indoor gold medalist. She initially finished sixth in the 2008 Olympic high jump final, but was promoted to the bronze medal in 2016 after three competitors were disqualified for doping. She is the American record holder in the women's high jump with an outdoor clearance of 2.05 m in 2010, and holds the indoor record with a clearance of 2.02 m in 2012.
Joanne Wise is a female former British track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. In 1998, she won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Kuala Lumpur. She also competed at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.
Phylis Smith is a female former sprinter from Great Britain who won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay in Barcelona 1992. In 1994, she won a European Championships bronze medal in the 400 metres.
Yelena Vladimirovna Slesarenko, née Sivushenko is a Russian high jumper.
Alina Astafei is a Romanian-German track and field athlete who attained German citizenship in 1995. She was one of the world's leading high jumpers in the 1990s. Representing Romania, she became the 1992 Olympic silver medallist, while representing Germany, she won a silver medal at the 1995 World Championship and the 1995 world indoor title.
Antonella Capriotti is a retired Italian long jumper and triple jumper.
Diana Clare Davies is a retired female high jumper from Great Britain, born in Catworth. Her personal best of 1.95 metres set on 26 June 1982, at a meet in Oslo, Norway, stood as the UK national record until 2014. She competed at two Olympic Games, reaching the final on both occasions. In Los Angeles 1984, she finished in 9th place, while in Seoul 1988, she finished 8th (1.90m).
Dawn C. Burrell is an American chef and retired long jumper. She won the gold medal at the 2001 IAAF World Indoor Championships and represented the United States at the 2000 Summer Olympics. In her culinary career, she was a semifinalist in 2020 for a James Beard Foundation Award. Burrell is the younger sister of former 100 m world record holder Leroy Burrell.
Shana L. Williams is a retired American track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. She is a two-time Olympian, having competed in her event at the 1996 and 2000 Summer Olympics. Williams won the silver medal at the 1999 IAAF World Indoor Championships in Maebashi. Her personal best of 7.01 m ranks her as the fifth best American in the long jump on the all-time lists. She is a two-time USA Indoor champion and also won the gold medal at the 1998 Goodwill Games.
Holly Bethan Bradshaw is an English track and field athlete who specialises in the pole vault. She is the current British record holder in the event indoors and outdoors, with clearances of 4.87 metres and 4.90 metres. Bradshaw won a bronze medal at the 2020 Summer Olympics. She also won bronze at the 2012 World Indoor Championships, gold at the 2013 European Indoor Championships, bronze at the 2018 European Championships, and silver at the 2019 European Indoor Championships. She also won at the 2018 Athletics World Cup. Coached by Scott Simpson, she has been consistently ranked among the world's best and has been ranked in the world top ten on the Track and Field News merit rankings four times.
Katerina Stefanidi is a Greek pole vaulter. She won the gold medal at the 2016 Rio Olympics and has also competed at the 2012 London and the 2020 Tokyo Olympics. Stefanidi was the 2017 World champion and earned bronze at the 2019 World Championships. At the European Athletics Championships, she won two gold medals and two silvers. Indoors, she is a two-time World Indoor bronze medallist from 2016 and 2018, was the 2017 European Indoor champion and earned silver at the 2015 European Indoor Championships.
Morgan Lake is a British high jumper. She won the silver medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games and placed fourth at the 2022 Commonwealth Games. Lake finished sixth in the 2017 World Championships in Athletics and fourth in the 2018 World Indoor Championships.
Isobel Pooley is a former British track and field athlete who specialises in the high jump. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Janet Margaret Boyle is a former high jumper from Northern Ireland. She represented Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. At the Commonwealth Games, she won a bronze medal in Edinburgh 1986 and a silver medal in Auckland 1990.
Lea Haggett was an English high jumper. She represented Great Britain at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta and won a bronze medal at the 1990 World Junior Championships in Plovdiv. She held the UK junior record for 23 years, from 1991 to 2014.
Sharon Hutchings is a former high jumper from Northern Ireland. She won a silver medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh with a lifetime best of 1.90 m.