Kelly Sotherton

Kelly Sotherton
Personal information
Full name Kelly Jade Sotherton
Nationality British
Born (1976-11-13) 13 November 1976
Newport, Isle of Wight
Height 181 cm (5 ft 11¼ in)
Sport
Country United Kingdom Great Britain
Sport Athletics
Event(s) Heptathlon
Long Jump
400m
Achievements and titles
World finals 3rd (2007)
Regional finals 7th (2006)
Olympic finals 3rd (2004)

Kelly Jade Sotherton (born 13 November 1976) is an English former heptathlete. She was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She also was a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In November 2010, she announced her decision to retire from the heptathlon, due to foot and back injuries. After considering switching to cycling,[1] she then chose instead to focus on the 400 m.[2] Sotherton's funding from UK Athletics was cut in 2011 but in 2011 she returned to heptathlon training.[3]

Early life and education

Sotherton was born in Newport, Isle of Wight on 13 November 1976. She began her athletics career in the sports day at Caversham House Primary School in Ryde, Isle of Wight. She was subsequently educated at Bishop Lovett Middle School, Ryde High School and Brunel University.

Career

As a teenager, Sotherton played netball for the Isle of Wight, and won two English Schools’ championships in the heptathlon. She moved to the Midlands in 1998, to become a member of Birchfield Harriers athletics club. She made her senior British team debut in 2002.

2004

She gained international recognition in 2004 when she unexpectedly won a bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens behind Carolina Klüft (gold) and Austra Skujytė (silver), scoring 6424 points and finishing ahead of defending Olympic champion Lewis, who dropped out due to injury.

She was famously criticised for settling for the bronze medal instead of chasing the silver in the final event, the 800m, by her coach Charles van Commenee.

2005

In March 2005 she competed in the European Indoor Championships, where she took silver once again behind Klüft.
At Götzis, Austria in May Sotherton was again beaten into second, behind the Swede, but she did record a personal best of 6547 points.
At the AAA's National Championship in July, Sotherton competed in four individual events and took her first senior national title, winning the long jump with a jump of 6.48 metres.
At the 2005 World Championships Sotherton had held a medal position going into the sixth event, despite some below average performances, but a disastrous javelin saw her drop out of contention. Sotherton did manage to knock nearly 2.5 seconds off her personal best to win the final 800 m, but despite closing the overall gap on those ahead she only finished fifth.

2006

In March 2006 Kelly Sotherton competed for England in the heptathlon at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne. She took gold with a score of 6396, ahead of Kylie Wheeler of Australia (silver) and her team mate Jessica Ennis (bronze). In August 2006 she competed for Great Britain and Northern Ireland in the heptathlon at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg. She came seventh ahead of her team mate Jessica Ennis, after a disappointing javelin event caused her to drop from second.

2007

Kelly Sotherton at an athletics meeting in The Netherlands, 2007

2007 saw Great Britain host the European Indoor Championships, in Birmingham. Carolina Klüft led after the hurdles, but Sotherton and compatriot Jessica Ennis trailed closely behind. The high jump saw Ennis take the lead over Klüft and Sotherton, with a jump of 1.91, but Sotherton set a personal best for indoors of 1.88. Seven points separated Klüft and Sotherton. In the shot put, Sotherton took a two-point lead ahead of defending champion Klüft. The long jump saw Klüft take a 24-point lead over the Briton. In the 800 m, a strong event for Sotherton, she needed to take 1.6 seconds from Klüft to see her beaten for the first time since 2002. Sotherton set a personal best 2:12.54, but Klüft also underscored her previous mark to win by 17 points. This was her smallest winning margin ever. Sotherton took silver, and Karin Ruckstuhl the bronze. In one of the best pentathlons of all time, many athletes set national records and Klüft and Sotherton rose to second and fourth on the all-time lists respectively. Sotherton also set a Commonwealth record by 200 points.

In 2007, the World Championships were held in the Japanese city of Osaka. Sotherton started the first day with a personal best of 13.21 seconds in the 100 metres hurdles. She then came within a centimetre of her personal best in the high jump with a 1.86 m performance. A season's best of 14.14 m followed in the shot put and Sotherton ended the day with a second personal best in the 200 m, with 23.40. On the second day, Sotherton hit 6.68 m in the long jump, to stay in medal contention, but again the javelin saw a weak performance, with Sotherton throwing just 31.90, finishing last. However, Sotherton put in a strong performance in the 800 m, running 2:11.58 to just beat teammate Jessica Ennis to the bronze medal, with 6,510 points.

Event Result Position Points Overall Position Extra
100 metres hurdles 13.21 secs (PB) 3rd (PB) 1093 3rd Jessica Ennis wins (12.97, PB); Carolina Klüft 2nd (13.15, PB) (both ran in her heat)
High Jump 1.86 m 4th 1054 4th Carolina Klüft wins (1.95 m, PB); Jessica Ennis is 3rd (1.89 m)
Shot put 14.14m (SB) 9th 803 3rd
200 metres 23.40 secs (PB) 3rd 1039 3rd Jessica Ennis wins (23.15, PB); Klüft 2nd (23.38, SB) (both ran in her heat)
Long jump 6.68m (PB) 3rd 1066 3rd Lyudmila Blonska wins (6.88m, PB); Klüft 2nd (6.85m, SB)
Javelin 31.90m (SB) 32nd 513 4th Lilli Schwarzkopf wins (54.44m, PB); Klüft 7th (47.98m, SB)
800 metres 2:11.58 3rd 942 3rd Sotherton lead for most of the way, but Jessica Ennis proved stronger to win the race in 2:11.39.
Heptathlon 6510 3rd Klüft set a European Record of 7,032 to win from Blonska, while Ennis finished fourth.

2008–09

In February 2008, Sotherton competed in a three-event triathlon, at the Indoor Grand Prix, in Birmingham, against a field including Carolina Klüft. Sotherton started with a below-par performance in the long jump, allowing Klüft to take the lead. Sotherton then won the 60 m hurdles in a personal best of 8.17 seconds. Despite running a personal best (and the fastest time by a Briton that season) of 52.47 seconds in the 400m, Sotherton took second behind Klüft, who won by 18 points.

After Klüft pulled out of the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Sotherton became favourite for the gold medal. She lived up to expectation in the 60 m hurdles, winning in 8.25 seconds. However, Sotherton put in a well below-par berformance in the high jump, achieving only 1.81 m, against Tia Hellebaut's 1.99 m., and Sotherton slipped to third and then to fifth after the shot put. Sotherton then won the long jump with 6.45 m, moving into second, behind Hellebaut, who set a Belgian record of 6.41 m. Hellebaut held a considerable lead entering the final event, the 800 m. Sotherton needed to beat the Belgian by 7.7 seconds to win gold. Sotherton set a personal best of 2:09.95, with Hellebaut collapsing over the line in 2:16.42, 6.47 seconds behind Sotherton, and the Briton had to again settle for silver.

After Klüft's retirement from heptathlon in 2008, Sotherton had been tipped by many people to take gold at the 2008 Olympics, including Klüft herself. However, after a disappointing performance she could only manage 5th place in the competition. Lyudmila Blonska was later disqualified for failing a doping test and Sotherton was upgraded to fourth.[4] She had previously labelled Blonska a cheat, and questioned the validity of Blonska's silver medal at the World Championships in 2007.[5] She was also part of the 4 × 400 m relay team which finished fifth in the final.

The following year, Sotherton struggled with injuries and although she was selected for the 2009 European Indoor Championships she had to withdraw due to heel problems.[6] Despite recovering from this injury, her 2010 season was also ruined by injury as her back problems recurred.[7]

2011

Sotherton completed "the first step of her reinvention as a 400m specialist", with a victory in the 400m final in 53.46 sec, at the English Institute of Sport - Sheffield indoor arena on 13 February 2011. Overcome at her win, she explained a temporary breakdown at trackside; " When I prolapsed the disc in my back it was career-threatening. I had to make a decision whether to end my career or try something new." It was Sotherton's first national title in a track event.[8]

2012

On Sunday 27 May 2012, Sotherton announced her retirement from the sport after failing to recover from back surgery in time for the London 2012 games.[9]

Post-retirement

Since retiring in 2012, Sotherton has been on UKsport international leaderships programme and ACGP (corporate governance practitioner). She appears in the media, commentating and guesting on various productions including those by Talksport and FiveLive, and undertakes public speaking engagements. She coaches and mentors in Athletics. Is part of the Sports People's Think Tank alongside footballer Jason Roberts.

She has also participated in the 2013 London Marathon in aid of AgeUK, completing the Deloitte Ride Across Britain from Lands End to John O'Groats, and the Prudential London Triathlon.most recently completed a marathon row for cancer research

Personal bests

Event Data
100 m 11.85 secs
200 m 23.39 secs
400 m 52.19 secs
800 m 2mins 07.34 secs
100 m hurdles 13.18 secs
High jump (indoor) 1.88 m
Long jump 6.79 m
Shot put 14.66 m
Javelin 40.81 m
Pentathlon (indoor) 4927 points
Heptathlon 6547 points

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing Isle of WightIsle of Wight
1997 Island Games Jersey, Channel Islands[10] 1st 100 m GR (12.02 seconds)
100 m hurdles GR (14.39 seconds)
Long jump GR (5.84 m)
High Jump 1.70 m
4x100m relay 49.24 sec
4x400m relay 4 min 3.46 sec
1999 Island Games Gotland, Sweden[11] 1st 100 m 12.45 seconds
Long jump 5.76 m
2nd 200 m 26.07 seconds
3rd 4x100m relay 50.27 sec
4x400m relay 4 min 6.44 sec
Representing  Great Britain and  England
1997 European U23 Championships Turku, Finland 10th Heptathlon 5585 pts
2002 Commonwealth Games Manchester, England 7th Heptathlon 5728 pts
2004 European Indoor Cup Leipzig, Germany 4th Long jump 6.38 m
European Cup Bydgoszcz, Poland 2nd Long jump 6.68 m
Summer Olympics Athens, Greece 3rd Heptathlon 6424 pts
2005 European Indoor Championship Madrid, Spain 2nd Pentathlon 4733 pts
World Championships Helsinki, Finland 7th Long jump 6.42 m w
5th Heptathlon 6325 pts
2006 Commonwealth Games Melbourne, Australia 1st Heptathlon 6396 pts
European Cup Málaga, Spain 4th Long jump 6.50 m
European Championships Gothenburg, Sweden 7th Heptathlon 6290 pts
15th (qualifiers) Long jump 6.40 m
World Athletics Final Stuttgart, Germany 7th Long jump 5.85 m
2007 European Indoor Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 2nd Pentathlon 4927 pts
World Championships Osaka, Japan 3rd Heptathlon 6510 pts
2008 World Indoor Championships Valencia, Spain 2nd Pentathlon 4852 pts
Summer Olympics Beijing, China 4th Heptathlon 6517 pts
5th 4×400 m relay 3:22.68

References

  1. Former heptathlete Kelly Sotherton considered switch to cycling for London 2012
  2. http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/athletics/9147480.stm ; and, The Independent, 14 February 2011
  3. McRae, Donald (14 November 2011). "Kelly Sotherton: I don't want to get to 60 and think 'if only'". The Guardian. Retrieved 15 November 2011. [...] having just lost all her funding from UK Athletics [...] [The doctor] said: 'Your back is still improving so maybe you can give heptathlon a go.'
  4. Medallist Blonska fails drug test
  5. Heptathlon silver medallist Liudmyla Blonska fails drugs test
  6. British trio will miss Europeans. BBC Sport (2009-03-02). Retrieved on 2009-03-02.
  7. Injury wrecks heptathlete Kelly Sotherton's season. BBC Sport (2010-05-21). Retrieved on 2010-05-26.
  8. The Independent, 14 February 2011
  9. "London 2012: Heptathlete Kelly Sotherton retires with back injury". BBC Sport. BBC. 27 May 2012. Retrieved 27 May 2012.
  10. http://www.islandgames.net/pdfs/games_records.pdf
  11. http://www.iiga.org/media/1999/1999_athletics.pdf

External links

This article is issued from Wikipedia - version of the 9/19/2016. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike but additional terms may apply for the media files.