Fatima Whitbread

Whitbread was born in Stoke Newington, London,[1] to a Turkish Cypriot mother and Greek Cypriot father.[2] Speaking in 2020 on the BBC2 television programme Pilgrimage: the Road to Istanbul she said that both her parents were from Istanbul. She grew up in a series of children's homes, occasionally being left in the care of her abusive biological mother. In a 2003 interview with The Observer, Whitbread said, "It was a nightmare of a childhood and it was only because I loved sport so much that I got through it and met my true mother."[2]

At the age of 14, she was adopted by the family of Margaret Whitbread, her javelin coach.[2] She spent her teenage years in Chadwell St Mary, Essex where she attended the Torells School in nearby Grays[3][4] and she holidayed with her new family in a caravan park at Burnham-on-Crouch.[5]

Whitbread broke the javelin world record with a throw of 77.44m in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Championships in Athletics (where she also won the final) and became World Champion in 1987. She became well known in the UK for her celebratory wiggle after defeating arch-rival Petra Felke in these events. Her performances in 1987 led to her being voted winner of the BBC Sports Personality of the Year award.[6]

Whitbread had won the silver medal at the inaugural World Championships in 1983. She was also known for her rivalry with fellow British javelin thrower Tessa Sanderson, who won the gold medal at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles with Whitbread finishing in bronze medal position. In the 1988 Olympics in Seoul, Whitbread won the silver medal behind Petra Felke, who had broken the world record in the interim.

Her performance in the 1980s came under scrutiny after the Olympic anabolic steroid scandal involving Ben Johnson broke.

Whitbread is a one-time governor of King Edward VI Grammar School, Chelmsford, Essex. According to a November 2008 Daily Express article, she owns her own company and is involved with the stadium being used after the 2012 Summer Olympics.[7]

In 1997, Whitbread married Andrew Norman. Norman was the influential promotions officer of the British Athletic Federation (BAF) and represented many athletes professionally including Fatima. The couple married in Copthorne, West Sussex[8] where Fatima had regularly been attending St John's so that their wedding could be near Gatwick Airport for the international sporting wedding guests.[9] They had a son who was born in the late 1990s.[10] She currently lives in Ingatestone, Essex.

Andrew Norman lost his high-profile job in British athletics in the early part of the 1990s soon after it had been discovered during the inquiry into the suicide of Clifford Geoffrey Temple that Norman had threatened and falsely smeared Temple, a leading British athletics journalist, author, commentator and coach. In 1993, Cliff Temple had begun an investigation into the conflicts of interest in the business affairs of Fatima who was by then a former world record-holder in the javelin and mistress of Andy Norman. Norman spread rumors that Temple had sexually harassed a young woman athlete whom he coached. In January 1994, three weeks before his 47th birthday, Temple committed suicide. At the inquest into Temple's death the jury were given a transcript of a recording that Temple had made of a telephone interview with Norman in which the threat was made. In their verdict they said that the call had "pushed him over the edge."[11] The couple divorced in 2006. Norman died of a heart attack in 2007.[12]

Whitbread's autobiography, Survivor, was published in 2012.[13]

On 28 January 1995 Whitbread was interviewed at length by Andrew Neil, on his one-on-one interview show Is This Your Life, produced by Open Media for Channel 4.[14] The Guardian described this interview:

Fatima stonewalled with stoicism and without sweating. Her strong defence was that sportsman's speciality, mangled language. It was often far from clear what she meant. When Neil raised the question of [her fiancé's suicide] she said: "It's very sad but this question keeps rising on the fact that it came through myself." Then there was the muscular subject of steroids. She was unusually passionate on the question of Ben Johnson. "You call him a cheat. He's a cheat. But he decided to cheat therefore I don't agree with the way he was treated after. (Anyone follow that?)[15]

On 26 December 2009, Whitbread took part in a celebrity version of the TV show Total Wipeout.[16] She also appeared on an episode of Celebrity Come Dine with Me on 2 September 2011.[17] On 19 December 2011, Whitbread appeared on a Christmas edition of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire? partnered with Russell Watson. It was rumoured that she had been hired as This Morning's new fitness expert[18] and made her first appearance on 5 January 2012.

On 21 July 2012, Whitbread appeared with Sharron Davies in the BBC One quiz show Pointless Celebrities which aired on 26 May 2012. On 21 July 2012, she was a contestant on an Olympians edition of ITV's The Cube. In 2014, she appeared on Celebrity Blockbusters on Challenge, and the following year took part in the ITV sports show Eternal Glory, but was the first celebrity to be eliminated.

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Fatima Whitbread.

• Fatima Whitbread on Twitter
• Thurrock Local History Society – Fatima Whitbread