Lynsey Sharp

Lynsey Sharp

Lynsey Sharp competing at the 2014 Commonwealth Games
Personal information
Born (1990-07-11) 11 July 1990
Dumfries, United Kingdom
Height 1.74 m (5 ft 9 in)
Weight 59 kg (130 lb) (2014)
Sport
Country  Great Britain
 Scotland
Sport Athletics
Event(s) 800 metres
Medal record
Women's athletics
Representing  Great Britain
European Championships
2012 Helsinki 800 m
2014 Zürich 800 m
Representing  Scotland
Commonwealth Games
2014 Glasgow 800 m

Lynsey Sharp (born 11 July 1990) is a Scottish track and field athlete who competes in the 800 metres. She is the 2012 European champion and represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London.[1] She also won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games. Her personal best is 1:57.69, the third fastest time over 800m by a British woman, set in the final of the 2016 Olympic Games in Rio de Janeiro.[2]

Personal life

Lynsey Sharp was born in Dumfries, United Kingdom and lived her early life in nearby Lochmaben. She is the daughter of former Scottish athletes Cameron Sharp and Carol Sharp (née Lightfoot). Her father won a 1982 European silver medal in the 200 m and competed at the 1980 Olympic Games, while her mother has an 800 m best of 2:02.91 and competed at the 1982 Commonwealth Games.

Sharp went to The Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh. She graduated with a 2:1 in Law (LLB) from Edinburgh Napier University in 2012 a few weeks before competing in the London Olympics. She has said she was inspired to study law after her father fought a medical negligence case following permanent injuries he sustained in a road crash.[3] She is also a fan of Scottish Premiership side Rangers F.C.

Career

As a teenager, Sharp competed at the IAAF World Youth Championships and IAAF World Junior Championships. In 2011, she improved her 800 m personal best by almost four seconds. In June, she took her best down from 2:04.44, to 2:02.48 in Watford then 2:01:98 in Prague. Then in July, at the European U23 Championships in Ostrava, she further improved to 2:00.65, to win a bronze medal. This would be upgraded to silver, after the 2013 disqualification of Elena Arzhakova.

In June 2012, at the UK Championships & Olympic trials, Sharp was a surprise winner of the 800 metres. Olympic qualifying rules stated that a country could send three athletes in an event, provided they had achieved the A standard, or one athlete who had the B standard. Sharp only had the B standard, while four other British women had the A standard, an injured Jenny Meadows and three athletes who Sharp had defeated at the Olympic trials. A week after the trials, Sharp won a silver medal at the European Championships in Helsinki, in a PB of 2:00.52, a time that was still outside the A standard.[4] The selectors decided to pick Sharp and leave behind athletes including Meadows and Marilyn Okoro. At the Olympics, she ran 2:01.41 in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals, where she finished seventh in 2:01.78, failing to reach the final. In April 2013, her European silver was upgraded to gold after abnormalities were found in Elena Arzhakova's biological passport.[5] Arxhakova was stripped of both her 2012 European title and 2011 European U23 title. Sharp was finally presented with the gold medal at the Emirates arena, during the Glasgow indoor international meeting in March 2014.

At the end of the 2013 season Sharp had surgery on her ankle which became infected resulting in her competing throughout the 2014 season against medical advice with an open wound in her foot.[6] In July 2014, Sharp ran under two minutes in the 800 m for the first time, running 1:59.67 at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne. In August, at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, she ran 2:01.34 to win a silver medal in the 800 m.[7] The race was won by 2013 World champion Eunice Sum. The night before the Commonwealth 800 m final, Sharp suffered stomach cramps and sickness and had to be placed on a drip at the Poly-clinic at the Athletes' Village until 5.30 am on the morning of the race. Sharp's performance was hailed as 'a miracle run'.[8][9] Two weeks after the Commonwealth Games, she won a silver medal at the European Championships in Zürich, breaking Susan Scott's Scottish record of 1:59.02, with a time of 1:58.80, to move to eighth on the UK all-time list. The race was won by Maryna Arzamasava of Belarus in 1:58.15.

2016 Summer Olympics

Following her sixth-place finish in the 800 metres at the 2016 Summer Olympics, Sharp was reported to have said that "it was difficult to compete against Caster Semenya and other hyperandrogenic athletes after the rule to suppress testosterone levels was overturned."[10] Sharp was also criticised in the media when she appeared to ignore Semenya post-race, while embracing fellow runners Joanna Jóźwik and Melissa Bishop.[11] Sharp has since defended her comments, saying on Twitter that:

I have a tremendous amount of respect for Caster. She is someone who I talk to regularly on the circuit...When asked on live TV, I felt I gave an honest and diplomatic response.
— Lynsey Sharp, Twitter[12]

Sharp had previously claimed that "there were obvious athletes with heightened testosterone" and that there were "two separate races being run."[13]

Achievements

Year Competition Venue Position Event Notes
Representing  Great Britain
2007 World Youth Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic semi-final 800 m 2:11.36
2008 World Junior Championships Bydgoszcz, Poland 18th (sf) 800m 2:09.00
2011 European U23 Championships Ostrava, Czech Republic 2nd 800 m 2:00.65
2012 European Championships Helsinki, Finland 1st 800 m 2:00.52
2012 Olympic Games London, England semi-final 800 m 2:01.78
2014 European Championships Zürich, Switzerland 2nd 800 m 1:58.80
2015 World Championships Beijing, China 14th (sf) 800 m 1:59.33
2016 Olympic Games Rio de Janeiro, Brazil 6th 800 m 1:57.69
Representing  Scotland
2008 Commonwealth Youth Games Pune, India 3rd 800 m 2:06.77
2014 Commonwealth Games Glasgow, Scotland 2nd 800 m 2:01.34

References

  1. ↑ Hart, Simon (3 July 2012). "Team GB athletics squad for London 2012 Olympics announced". Telegraph. Retrieved 3 July 2012.
  2. ↑ "2016 800m Olympic Final". Rio 2016 - Women's 800m final. Rio 2016. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "Lynsey Sharp". Edinburgh Napier University – Study – Be different. Edinburgh Napier University. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  4. ↑ "Olympics: Lynsey Sharp grabs silver, but London looks out of reach". The Scotsman. 30 June 2012. Retrieved 2 July 2012.
  5. ↑ "Great Britain's Lynsey Sharp made European champion after 800m silver is upgraded". The Telegraph. 4 June 2013. Retrieved 4 June 2013.
  6. ↑ Bloom, Ben (16 May 2015). "Lynsey Sharp prepares for surprise captaincy after 'coming of age' season". The Telegraph. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  7. ↑ Greechan, John (1 August 2014). "Lynsey Sharp wins silver for Scotland in 800m as England's Jess Judd and Jenny Meadows miss out on medals at Commonwealth Games in Glasgow". Daily Mail. Retrieved 21 August 2016.
  8. ↑ English, Paul; McGivern, Mark. "Glasgow 2014: Lynsey Sharp shrugs off hospital visit before 800m final at Hampden to win silver with a 'miracle' run". Daily Record. Trinity Mirror. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  9. ↑ "Glasgow 2014: Lynsey Sharp overcomes illness for 800m silver". BBC Sport Glasgow 2014. BBC. Retrieved 10 August 2014.
  10. ↑ Jack Rathborn (21 August 2016). "Tearful Lynsey Sharp claims it is 'difficult' to compete with Caster Semenya after rule change". Daily Mirror. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  11. ↑ Katrina Karkazis (23 August 2016). "The ignorance aimed at Caster Semenya flies in the face of the Olympic spirit". The Guardian. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  12. ↑ "Lynsey Sharp Twitter Response". Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  13. ↑ Kathryn Snowdon (21 August 2016). "Lynsey Sharp Defends Caster Semenya Comments After Coming Sixth In Women's 800m Final In Rio". Huffington Post. Retrieved 24 August 2016.
  14. ↑ "Lynsey is Kurri Athlete of the Year... Again". scottishathletics.org.uk. 28 October 2012. Retrieved 14 November 2012.
  15. ↑ "Sharp, Lynsey Biography". IAAF. Retrieved 26 August 2012.
  16. ↑ "Athlete Profile". Thepowerof10.info. Retrieved 26 August 2012.

External links

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