In celebration of Black History Month, we are spotlighting the Black British female sport stars who have had extraordinary careers. From bagging several gold medals to breaking records, these women show how passion, hard work and endurance can get you to the top…
TESSA SANDERSON
Sanderson is the first Black British woman to win an Olympic gold medal for Britain at the Los Angeles 1984 games. In fact, that year she was the only British athlete to win at an Olympic throwing event.
Born in Jamaica, Sanderson moved to England at just five-years-old following her parents, who were part of the Windrush Generation. She joined the Wolverhampton & Bilston AC, where she showed promise as a pentathlete, and obvious potential as a javelin thrower.
She moved through the ranks rapidly and won the first of her eight British javelin titles in 1975. The following year, she increased the UK javelin throw record three times before making her Montreal Olympic Games debut and finishing tenth. In 1977, Sanderson improved her personal best javelin throw by exactly 10 metres, which placed her second on the all-time list. In 1984, she got her Olympic Gold in Los Angeles, and became the first British woman to win a throwing event at the Olympics.
As of 2011, she is the only British woman to compete at six successive Olympic Games over two decades. During her impressive career, Sanderson set ten UK javelin records, of which five were Commonwealth bests.
After her retirement, she founded the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy, a charity which attempts to educate young people through sport. She has served as a vice-chair of Sport England and is a member of the board of the Olympic Park Legacy Company.
DINA ASHER-SMITH
At just 26, Asher-Smith is the fastest British woman on record. She has been breaking records for half her life as at age 13 she ran a world-best: 39.16 seconds in the 300m.
At her Olympic Games debut in 2016, Asher-Smith won bronze as part of the Women's 4x100m Relay Squad. Despite breaking her foot five months earlier, she won silver for the 4x100m at the 2017 World Championships. In 2018, she made history by being the first British woman to achieve such a major feat at the European Athletics Championships when she won gold in the 100m, 200m and 4x100m relay. The following year, Asher-Smith became Great Britain’s first female sprinter to win a World Championship gold when she won the 200m final.
In August 2022, Asher-Smith called for more research funding on the impact of periods on athletic performance after she pulled up with cramps caused by her period while trying to defend her 100m title at the European Championship.
CHRISTINE OHURUOGU
Born to Nigerian parents in East London, UK, Ohuruogu grew up just a stone’s throw away from the city’s Olympic site. She had a late start to her career in athletics but had no trouble making up the time as a track and field athlete who specialised in the 400m.
In 2006, Ohuruogu produced her personal best time of 50.28 seconds. However, later that year she was handed a 12-month ban for missing three out-of-season drugs tests. Upon her return from the ban, she won gold in the World Championship final in Osaka, Japan, with a new personal best time of 49.61 seconds.
Injuries and studies restricted her training which led to her premature retirement in 2018. Following her stellar athletic career, Ohuruogu graduated with a law degree from Queen Mary's University, London, in 2019.
KATARINA JOHNSON-THOMPSON
Born and raised in Liverpool, Johnson-Thompson spent many of her early years in the Bahamas as her father is from Nassau. Although she has a family history in dancing, Johnson-Thompson always had her heart set on sport.
Today, she is known as an elite multi-eventer, both as a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. Ever since qualifying for the 2012 London Olympic Games at the age of 19, Johnson-Thompson has been in the spotlight as one of the members of team Great Britain to watch. She is the only Briton to have world titles at senior, under-20 and under-18 level.
In 2018, she won gold at the World Indoor Pentathlon and at the Commonwealth Games. The following year, she outdid herself again by walking away with the world title at the World Athletics Championships, setting a British heptathlon record.
An achilles injury disrupted her preparation for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games but she returned to compete in 2021.
ALICE DEARING
Dearing is team Great Britain’s first Black female swimmer. The 23-year-old started swimming at the age of eight. When she was 19, she finished fourth in the 7.5km event at the 2014 World Junior Open Water Championships. In 2016, she became 10km World Junior Open Water Champion, giving Britain its first gold win at the championship.
Having qualified for the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Dearing finished 19th place. Although she was disappointed by her performance, Dearing is aware of the significance of her presence in Tokyo. She is a leading ambassador for the Black Swimming Association so she can help to increase the participation in swimming among Black people.
KARE ADENEGAN
Adenegan is a British wheelchair athlete that specialises in sprint distances in the T34 classification. She is a World, European, and Paralympic medallist in the T34.
Born with cerebral palsy, Adenegan showed star potential at the age of 14 when she won double bronze at the IPC Athletics World Championships in 2015.
Two years later, she won the 100m silver and bronze in the 400m and 800m at the World Championships. 2018 was undeniably a huge year for Adenegan as she firmly established herself on the international sporting scene when she won her first major international gold medal at the European Championships for the 100m. She also set a new world record in the T34 100m at the Müller Anniversary Games in London. And to top off an amazing year, she won the BBC Young Sports Personality of the Year Award.
At the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games, Adenegan won silvers in the T34 100m and 800m.
NICOLA ADAMS
Adams is Great Britain’s most successful female boxer. She became the first female boxer to represent England in 2001, but it took two years until she became an English Amateur Champion. Although it took time for her to be awarded at major championships, she remained unbeaten in her professional career.
At the London 2012 Olympic Games, she became the first female boxer to win an Olympic gold. Four years later at the Rio 2016 Games, she retained her title by winning her second gold, and became the first boxer to defend an Olympic title in 92 years.
Although Adams retired from boxing due to injury in 2019, she is widely remembered as the only female boxer in history to have claimed titles at the Olympics, Commonwealth Games, European and World Championships, and helped to pave a way for women in a male-dominated sport. Throughout her career, she claimed eight gold medals and four silver medals. Her prominence in the sporting world resulted in a nomination for BBC Sports Personality of the Year. She was also the first female award from the Boxing Writers Club of Great Britain and was appointed a MBE and OBE for her services to boxing.
Adams is openly lesbian and has used her platform to create awareness of the abuse that she continues to receive due to her sexuality. She has topped multiple lists for being an inspirational role model for the LGBTQIA+ community.
KELLY HOLMES
Holmes is a retired British middle distance athlete that specialised in the 800m and 1500m events. In the Sydney 2000 Olympic Games, Holmes won bronze for the 800m. During preparation for the Games, Holmes incurred foot injuries yet committed to racing at the 800m and 1500m events at the Athens 2004 Games. Astonishingly, Holmes won gold for both. It was not since 1920 that a Brit had won two athletic gold medals in the same Olympic Games.
Overall, Holmes has three World Championship medals, two European Championships medals, and three Commonwealth medals. She set British records in numerous events and still currently holds the records for the 600m and 1000m.
In 2005, Holmes was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE).