Personal information | |
---|---|
Birth name | Montell Marcelle Douglas |
Nickname(s) | "Monty Trackstar" [1] "Monty" "Fire" |
Nationality | British |
Born | Lewisham, London, England | 24 January 1986
Alma mater | Brunel University |
Occupations |
|
Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) [2] |
Weight | 67 kg (148 lb) |
Sport | |
Country | Great Britain |
Sport | Athletics, Bobsleigh |
Turned pro | 2007 (athletics) 2016 (bobsleigh) |
Achievements and titles | |
Olympic finals | 2008 Summer, 2022 Winter |
Personal best(s) | 60 m 7.25 100 m 11.05 200 m 23.38 |
Montell Marcelle "Monty" Douglas (born 24 January 1986) is a British multi-sports Olympian. Originally a sprinter and former British record holder for the 100 metres at 11.05 seconds, she competed at the 2008 Summer Olympics. Taking up bobsleigh in 2016 and becoming part of the Great Britain two-woman bobsleigh team the following year, she competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics. She is one of the two female athletes, the other being Jaqueline Mourão, who participated in both of the Olympic Games hosted by Beijing.
Outside of competing, she went on to appear as "Fire" in the 2024 BBC One reboot of Gladiators , and was subsequently a contestant on the twenty-second series of Strictly Come Dancing .
Montell Marcelle Douglas was born on 24 January 1986, in Lewisham, London. She was raised by Jamaican parents. At a very young age, Douglas developed an interest in athletics and was encouraged by her PE teacher to participate in it. [3]
She attended Ravensbourne School and went on to study sports science at Brunel University.
Douglas made her first senior major championship appearance at the 2007 European Athletics Indoor Championships. Although she was knocked out in the semi-finals, she set a new 60 metres personal best of 7.28 seconds.
She was part of the British 4 x 100 metres relay team that finished fourth at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics in Osaka (along with Laura Turner, Joice Maduaka and Emily Freeman). At the same championships, she competed in the 100 m individual event but was eliminated in the quarter-finals stage.
In the 2008 season, she finished second behind Jeanette Kwakye in the women's 100 m at the British Championships. At the Loughborough European Athletics meeting on 17 July, during the semi-final, she ran a wind-assisted (+2.6 m/s) time of 10.95 seconds. In the final, she broke Kathy Cook's British record with a time of 11.05 seconds. Douglas had improved her personal best by almost a quarter of a second and broken a national record which had stood unbeaten for over a quarter of a century in the process. [4]
Douglas represented Great Britain at the 2008 Olympics, in the 100 metres. In her first round heat, she placed second behind Ivet Lalova in a time of 11.36 to advance to the second round. There she failed to qualify for the semi-finals as her time of 11.38 was only the fourth fastest time of her heat. [5] She was also part of the Great Britain team which reached the final of the 4x100 metres relay, and which (along with the Jamaican team) were favourites to claim a medal. Jeanette Kwakye ran a good first bend in the final, but the British team failed to finish due to a mix-up in the changeover between Douglas and Emily Freeman. Jamaica also failed to finish after a similar error between Sherone Simpson and Kerron Stewart. [6]
Event | Best | Location | Date |
---|---|---|---|
60 metres | 7.25 s | Newham, England | 13 February 2013 |
100 metres | 11.05 s | Loughborough, England | 17 July 2008 |
200 metres (outdoor) | 23.34 s | La Chaux-de-Fonds, Switzerland | 28 June 2009 |
200 metres (indoor) | 23.93 s | Birmingham, England | 20 February 2005 |
In 2016, Douglas took up bobsleigh. She finished in the top 10 on her Bobsleigh World Cup debut in January 2017, and later in the season, she finished seventh at an event in St. Moritz. [8] She was Great Britain's reserve athlete for the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang. [8] In 2019, Douglas and Mica McNeill finished sixth in the 2-women bobsleigh event in Königssee. [9] In 2020, Douglas and McNeill came fourth in the 2020–21 Bobsleigh World Cup 2-women event in Innsbruck. [10] In January 2022, Douglas and McNeill were selected for the 2-women event at the 2022 Winter Olympics. Douglas became the first female Briton to compete at the Summer and Winter Olympics, and notably, both were held in Beijing. [11] The pair finished 17th in the two-woman event. [12]
Douglas appeared on the game show Who Dares Wins on 14 January 2011 and won £12,500. [13] In May 2023, Douglas was named as "Fire’, one of the new Gladiators in a reboot of the television series of the same name broadcast on BBC One. [14] At 5 ft 10 in, she is one of the tallest female Gladiators on the show, and is known for her speed and strength. [2]
In August 2024, Douglas was announced as a contestant on the twenty-second series of Strictly Come Dancing . [15] Alongside her dance teacher Johannes Radebe, she finished the competition in sixth place after the judges saved Tasha Ghouri and Aljaž Škorjanec. [16]
Dame Denise Rosemarie Lewis is a British sports administrator and former sports presenter and athletics athlete, who specialised in the heptathlon.
Iwan Gwyn Thomas is a Welsh sprinter who represented Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the Olympic Games in the 400 metres, and Wales at the Commonwealth Games. Thomas is a former European, Commonwealth Games and World 4 × 400 metres relay champion.
Harry Leslie Aikines-Aryeetey is an English sprinter. In 2005 he was named as the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year and the IAAF's Rising Star of the Year after becoming the first athlete to win gold medals at both 100 metres and 200 metres at the World Youth Championships.
Amuilka Joy (Joice) Maduaka is a British track and field athlete, who competes over the 100, 200 and occasionally 400 metres. She holds the record for winning the most medals of any athlete at the British Athletics Championships, standing at 22 medals to date, including being the 100 metres champion six times, and the 200 metres champion a further three times.
Jeanette Boahemaa Kwakye is a British broadcaster and retired sprinter.
Simeon Oscar Williamson is an English bobsledder and former track and field sprinter who specialised in the 100 metres. Williamson, a London native, is the second cousin to 2008 Beijing Olympics silver medalist British high jumper Germaine Mason. He is coached by Lloyd Cowan, and his athletics club is Highgate Harriers. He is a former British 100 metres champion.
Beverly "Bev" Kinch is an English former long jumper and sprinter. She held the UK long jump record for 29 years (1983–2012) with 6.90 metres. She is the 1983 Universiade Champion at 100 metres and the 1984 European Indoor Champion at 60 metres. She also represented Great Britain at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul.
Emma Iwebunor Ania is a former track and field sprint athlete who competed internationally for Great Britain.
Gillian Cooke is a Scottish track and field athlete and bobsledder. She was born and brought up in Edinburgh, and educated at George Watson's College. She began her sporting career in track and field with Edinburgh Southern Harriers. In 2001, she took fourth place in the triple jump at the Commonwealth Youth Games, and set a Scottish junior record for the pole vault. She set three Scottish senior records in the pole vault in two months in 2002, and was selected to represent Scotland in that event at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
Marcus Adam is an English retired sportsperson, who represented Great Britain as both a sprinter and a bobsledder.
Jurica Grabušić is a Croatian athlete who specializes in the 110 metre hurdles. A double Olympic competitor in his event, he also participated in bobsleigh at the 2006 Olympic Games.
William "Will" Sharman is a British athlete who specialises in the 110 metres hurdles. He started his career as a junior high jumper and decathlete, but focused entirely on hurdling after a shoulder injury. He made his international debut for Great Britain at the 2006 European Athletics Championships and went on to compete at the 2007 Summer Universiade. Sharman came to prominence in 2009, after he significantly improved upon his previous personal best and finished fourth in the 110 metres hurdles final at the 2009 World Championships. This would be the first of three consecutive appearances in the World Championship final, he's since finished fifth in both the 2011 and 2013 finals.
Geraldina Rachel Asher-Smith is a British sprinter internationally active since 2011. In 2019 she was the first British woman to win a World title in a sprint event.
Jazmin Sawyers is a British track and field athlete and sports presenter who competes in the long jump, representing Great Britain and England. In 2023, she won her first major senior title at the 2023 European Indoor Championships.
Mica McNeill is a British bobsledder. She won a silver medal at the 2012 Youth Olympics in Innsbruck, Austria, and at the 2021–22 Bobsleigh World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia. She competed at the 2018 and 2022 Winter Olympics.
Mica Moore is a British women's sprinter and bobsleigher. She competed for Wales in the 4 × 100 metres relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Scotland, and competed in the 2-women bobsleigh event at the 2018 Winter Olympics in Pyeongchang, South Korea.
Great Britain competed at the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, China, from 4 to 20 February 2022. The Great Britain team consists of 50 athletes. Eve Muirhead and Dave Ryding were the country's flagbearers during the opening ceremony. Meanwhile curler Bruce Mouat was the flagbearer during the closing ceremony.
Nicole Yeargin is a British-American athlete representing Great Britain who specialises in the 400 metres. She won major medals as part of British women's and mixed 4 x 400 m relays, including bronzes at the 2022 World Athletics Championships and 2023 World Athletics Championships. She won two bronze medals at the 2024 Summer Olympics as part of both the British mixed and women's 4 x 400 metres relay teams.
Adele Nicoll is a British shot putter, discus thrower and bobsledder. She has won multiple Welsh Athletics Championships events, and won the shot put event at the 2022 and 2023 British Athletics Championships. She came second in the 2021–22 Bobsleigh World Cup event in Sigulda, Latvia alongside Mica McNeill. Nicoll was a reserve for the 2022 Winter Olympics, and competed at the 2022 Commonwealth Games.
Hannah Brier is a British sprinter who won the 200 metres event at the 2022 British Indoor Athletics Championships. She competed at the 2014 and 2022 Commonwealth Games.