Full name Shelley Holroyd Sport Athletics Nationality British Event(s) Javelin | Residence Greater Manchester Name Shelley Holroyd Country England, UK Role Olympic athlete | |
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Born 17 May 1973 (age 50) ( 1973-05-17 ) Salford, England Coached by William Nicholls, Fatima Whitbread | ||
4912 European Track & Field Javelin Women Shelley Holroyd
Shelley Holroyd (born 17 May 1973 in Salford, Lancashire, England) is a British javelin thrower.
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Shelley Holroyd is the 6th British Javelin Thrower to throw over 60m (1993) and the first thrower to reach an Olympic Games since Tessa Sanderson. At the age of 23 Shelley had already competed in every major championship. She started throwing at the age of 12 and at 13 threw 37m58cm to win the English Schools Championships. At the age of 16 Shelley threw 52m50 and became a senior international athlete. In 1992 Shelley broke the English Schools record with 56m50 and it is still the longest throw of all time in the history of the English Schools Female Javelin. Later that year Holroyd was picked for the GB Junior team and subsequently came 4th at the World Junior Championships (1992) and was ranked Britains number 1 Thrower. In 1993 Holroyd threw 60m10cm to win the World Championship Trials and qualified for the World Championships, Stuttgart.
In March 1995 Holroyd was involved in a car accident that was deemed to be the end of her throwing career but she overcame her injuries to start training in July the same year. In December Holroyd was involved in a freak training accident and broke her right elbow. Once again the injury was threatening her career. February 1996 saw Holroyd come back from her injury and in July 1996 she qualified for the 1996 Great Britain Olympic team.
At the 1997 World Championships in Athens Holroyd became ill during the competition after having an allergic reaction to an injection and had to pull out. It was another year plagued with injuries.
After a 17-year-long spell as an international athlete Shelley retired in 2006 due to injury and moved into coaching. She now coaches Youth Olympian (2003) & former under 17 British record holder Hayley Thomas (Javelin).