Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Born | Vancouver, British Columbia | December 5, 1988|||||||||||||||||||||||
Height | 1.85 m (6 ft 1 in) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Weight | 78 kg (172 lb) | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Country | Canada | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Sport | Athletics | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Event | Javelin | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Achievements and titles | ||||||||||||||||||||||||
Personal bests | 64.83m NR , Kawasaki, 2015 | |||||||||||||||||||||||
Medal record
|
Elizabeth "Liz" Gleadle (born December 5, 1988, in Vancouver, British Columbia) is a Canadian track and field athlete competing in the javelin throw. She is the national record holder and has twice won Pan American Games medals, thrice made the World Championship finals (with a best result of 9th) and is a three-time Olympian, making the final at the 2012 Summer Olympics, finishing 12th. [1]
Elizabeth Gleadle was born in Vancouver, on December 5, 1988, to parents Dan and Sonia. Her parents enrolled her in almost every sport available throughout elementary school, including playing fastball for the Vancouver Wildcats Rep fastball team as a pitcher. In 2002, while in grade 8 at Kitsilano Secondary School, Geladle threw javelin in Caroline Wittrin's gym class. That year she won the Vancouver City's with a throw of 17 metres. In 2004, while in grade 10, Gleadle placed third at BC High School Championships and won both the BC Youth Championships and the Canadian Youth Championships. In the fall of 2004, Gleadle decided to concentrate on track and field, and joined the Vancouver Thunderbirds Track and Field Club. After winter training, she decided to focus solely on javelin. In the summer of 2005 she was the BC and Canadian Youth Champion, and made the World Youth Team to compete in Morocco, where she threw 50.51m, breaking the Canadian Youth Record and finishing fifth.
In 2005 despite offers of full scholarships from many NCAA Division 1 schools Gleadle stayed in Vancouver and competed for the University of British Columbia. Over the course of her university career, she won the NAIA Championships each of the four times she entered and broke the NAIA record twice.
In the spring of 2011, Gleadle took a break from her kinesiology degree at UBC to devote herself full-time to training. She moved to the National Training Centre for throws in Lethbridge, Alberta with coach Lawrence Steinke. After the London Olympics, she resumed her studies while also training in Lethbridge. [2] Gleadle missed the entire 2013 competitive season due to a back injury. In 2014 she placed fifth at the 2014 Glasgow Commonwealth Games, throwing 60.69 meters. [3] She also placed third at the 2014 IAAF Continental Cup in Marrakesh, Morocco.
Gleadle broke her own Canadian record in May, 2015 with 64.83 meters when she won the Golden Grand Prix meet in Kawasaki, Japan. On July 4, 2015, she won the 2015 Canadian Track and Field Championships throwing 59 meters in less-than-ideal conditions. She also finished 11th at that year's World Championships. [4]
During the 2016 Harry Jerome Classic in Vancouver, one of Gleadle's throws went out of bounds and narrowly missed a cameraman, piercing his shirt. The cameraman finished shooting the event and she apologized immediately afterwards. She said, "I’m not going to throw a javelin at someone and not see if they’re OK. I don’t feel like that’s polite." [5]
At the 2016 Summer Olympics Gleadle finished 16th in qualifying and did not advance to the final. [4] In 2017, she again reached the World Championship final. [4]
In 2020 Gleadle competed at the 2020 Summer Olympics, [6] [7] [8] finishing 23rd in qualifying and missing the final.
1Representing the Americas
Dame Valerie Kasanita Adams is a retired New Zealand shot putter. She is a four-time World champion, four-time World Indoor champion, two-time Olympic, three-time Commonwealth Games champion and twice IAAF Continental Cup winner. She has a personal best throw of 21.24 metres (69.7 ft) outdoors and 20.98 metres (68.8 ft) indoors. These marks are Oceanian, Commonwealth and New Zealand national records. She also holds the Oceanian junior record (18.93 m) and the Oceanian youth record (17.54 m), as well as the World Championships record, World Indoor Championships record and Commonwealth Games record.
Dani Stevens is a retired Australian discus thrower who in 2009 became the youngest ever female world champion in the event. She is the current national and Oceanian record holder.
Sultana Frizell is a Canadian track and field athlete competing in the hammer throw. Frizell currently trains under the guidance of Derek Evely in Kamloops, British Columbia. She competed at the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing and the 2012 Olympic Games in London. Frizell is the former Commonwealth Games champion in the hammer throw and Commonwealth Games record holder for the event as well.
Kimberley Mickle is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Her personal best of 66.83 m, achieved on 22 March 2014 in Melbourne, was, until 2018, the Australian record.
Braian Ezequiel Toledo was an Argentine javelin thrower who improved the World Youth Best in boys' javelin throw by more than six metres.
Kara Estelle Winger is an American track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She is the American record holder in the javelin throw with a distance of 68.11 m.
Julia Ratcliffe is a retired New Zealand track and field athlete who specialised in the hammer throw. She won the gold medal at the 2018 Commonwealth Games in the Gold Coast, having won the silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow.
Julius Yego is a Kenyan track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. Nicknamed "Mr. YouTube" because he learned how to throw by watching YouTube videos of javelin athletes, Yego is the African record holder for the event with a personal best of 92.72 m.
Nadine Broersen is a Dutch track and field athlete, specializing in the heptathlon and high jump. She was the 2014 World Indoor pentathlon champion. Broersen competes for the track and field club AV Sprint in Breda.
Li Lingwei is a Chinese track and field athlete who specialises in the javelin throw.
Marharyta Serhiïvna Dorozhon is an Israeli javelin thrower. Born and raised in Ukraine, she competed for that country until she became an Israeli citizen in 2014.
Annu Rani Dharayan is an Indian javelin thrower from Meerut, Uttar Pradesh, supported by OGQ. She was the first Indian to reach the finals of the women's javelin throw event in the World Athletics Championships, Doha, 2019. Annu had qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics through world rankings after missing out on the Olympic Qualification mark. Her career best effort is 63.24m which helped her win the gold in the National Interstate Athletic Championship, Patiala, 2021.In the 2022 Birmingham Commonwealth Games, Annu Rani scripted history as she became the first Indian female javelin thrower to win a medal, a bronze. She is the first Indian Javelin thrower to win a Gold medal in Asian games 2023 at Hangzhou.
Janieve Russell is a Jamaican track and field athlete who competes mainly in the 400 metres hurdles and the 400 metres sprint. She won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 m relay in Tokyo 2021, where she also finished fourth in the 400m hurdles final in a personal best of 53.08 secs. She is a four-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist, winning the 400m hurdles title in 2018 and 2022, and the 4 × 400 m relay in 2014 and 2018. She has also won two relay silvers at the World Championships and a relay gold at the World Indoor Championships.
Liu Shiying is a Chinese athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She is the first Asian athlete to win an Olympic gold medal in women's javelin throw.
Christin Hussong is a German track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She has won gold at the 2011 World Youth Championships, 2015 European U23 Championships and at the 2018 European Championships. Hussong holds the European Championships record with her personal best throw of 69.19 m.
Anouk Vetter is a Dutch track and field athlete who competes in the combined events.
Kelsey-Lee Barber is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She won gold at the 2019 World Championships, and her personal best of 67.70 m ranks her 13th in the overall list.
Maggie Malone-Hardin is an American track and field athlete competing in the javelin throw. She holds a personal record of 67.40 meters for the event, set in 2021, a national record. She was the 2016 American national and collegiate record holder and NCAA Division 1 champion. She is the American collegiate record holder. Maggie and Sam Hardin married in 2022.
Mackenzie Little is an Australian javelin thrower. She qualified for the 2020 Tokyo Olympics and came second in her Women's javelin throw qualification with a throw of 62.37m. Little could not match this distance in the final and came eighth with a distance of 59.96m, 6.38m less than the winner Liu Shiying of China.
Joy SpearChief-Morris is an indigenous Canadian hurdler from Lethbridge, Alberta. She is a multiple Ontario University Athletics and U Sports track champion and has competed for the Canadian U23 National Team. A Blackfoot from Alberta's Blood Tribe, SpearChief-Morris was the (female) recipient of the 2017 Tom Longboat Awards, awarded annually by the Aboriginal Sport Circle to the most outstanding male and female indigenous athletes in Canada. Her mother is Kainai First Nation and her father is an African-American from Los Angeles.