Becky Lyne is a former international middle-distance runner from Great Britain, who won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2006 European Athletics Championships.

Early life

Lyne was born on 4 July 1982 in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a ceremonial county, ceremonial and metropolitan county, metropolitan county in the Yorkshire and Humber Region of England. The county has four council areas which are the cities of City of Doncaster, Doncaster and City of Sh ...

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

. She attended Nether Green Junior School where she found her love for running as part of the cross-country team. She was a pupil at

Tapton School Tapton School is a secondary school with academy status located in Crosspool, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is sited next to another secondary, King Edward VII School in Sheffield, and near to Lydgate Junior School in Crosspool, ...

, which was also attended by the former Olympic middle-distance champion Sebastian Coe. Following school, Lyne studied Sports Science at Loughborough University where she achieved First Class Honours. She completed a second degree in Spanish at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study in six colleges: the Lacy School of Business, College of Communic ...

in Indianapolis,

Indiana Indiana () is a U.S. state in the Midwestern United States. It is the 38th-largest by area and the 17th-most populous of the 50 States. Its capital and largest city is Indianapolis. Indiana was admitted to the United States as the 19th s ...

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

in 2003. She joined the Hallamshire Harriers Athletics Club in 1994 and success at city and county level soon followed, which eventually led to her first international vest for England in 1997 over 1,500m at the Home Countries International. Lyne enjoyed a successful junior athletics career under the tutelage of Gordon Surtees, which culminated in winning the 800 metres at the

2003 European Athletics U23 Championships The 4th European Athletics U23 Championships were held in Bydgoszcz, Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium Zdzisław may refer to: People * Zdzisław (given name), a Slavic male given name Places * Zdzisław, Lubusz Voivodeship Zdzisł ...

in Bydgoszcz,

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It is divided into 16 administrative provinces called voivodeships, covering an area of . Poland has a population of over 38 million and is the fifth-most populou ...

Professional career

Lyne made her first senior international appearance at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

, where she was knocked out in the heats of the 800 metres. She suffered a series of injuries over the following two seasons, but nevertheless managed to achieve the B-standard qualifying time for the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. However, she was not selected for the event due to the resurgence of

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British middle distance athlete. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres and 1,500 metres events and won gold medals for both distances at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens. She set British ...

, who subsequently coached Lyne during the 2008 season. After moving to Stockport,

in 2005 and beginning to work under coach Dave Turnbull, Lyne had a breakthrough year in 2006. In June, she shot to prominence by finishing second in the 800 metres at the

British Grand Prix (athletics) The British Grand Prix, formerly known as the Birmingham Grand Prix, is an annual athletics meeting. Since 2010 it has been a part of the Diamond League series of track and field meets. In 2020 the event was due to be held at the Gateshead Inte ...

in Gateshead, with a time of 1:58.20 minutes to become the third fastest British female over the distance behind only Holmes and

Kirsty Wade Kirsty Wade (née McDermott, born 6 August 1962) is a British former middle-distance runner. She is a three-time Commonwealth Games gold medallist representing Wales, winning the 800 metres in Brisbane 1982 and both the 800 metres and 1500 me ...

. This was quickly followed up in July when she became British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

800 metres champion in Manchester in a time of 2:00.31. Her career highlight was achieved the following month when she won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2006 European Athletics Championships in Gothenburg, Sweden in a time of 1:58.45. The successes of 2006 led her to be named as

BAWA Athlete of the Year The BAWA Athlete of the Year is an award presented by the British Athletics Writers' Association (BAWA) to the British athletes voted to have been adjudged to have been best of the year in British athletics. They are presented each autumn at the ...

alongside friend

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a British long-distance runner. His ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World titles) make him the most successful male track distance runner ever ...

. The following season she was selected for the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member federat ...

Osaka is a designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the third most populous city in Japan, following Special wards of Tokyo and Yokohama. With a population of ...

, Japan, but was forced to withdraw from the event due to a calf injury. Further injury curtailments left her short of fitness by the time of the trials for the 2008 Summer Olympics in

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, China and as a result was unable to qualify. She continued to pursue a comeback in subsequent years, spending winters training at altitude in

Kenya ) , national_anthem = " Ee Mungu Nguvu Yetu"() , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , capital = Nairobi , coordinates = , largest_city = Nairobi ...

with the group of friend and rival Janeth Jepkosgei, but was unable to find any consistency and chose to officially retire from the sport in 2012.

Life After Athletics

Lyne now resides in

Baslow Baslow is a village in Derbyshire, England, in the Peak District, situated between Sheffield and Bakewell, just over north of Chatsworth House. It is sited by the River Derwent, which is spanned by a 17th-century bridge, alongside which is a ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands, England. It includes much of the Peak District National Park, the southern end of the Pennine range of hills and part of the National Forest. It borders Greater Manchester to the nor ...

and lists her main hobbies as dancing and gardening. In 2014 she founded her own company, TrYumph in Life CIC, with the aim of helping to empower people to lead a healthy life. The company runs a variety of family sports and fitness classes for a range of ages and abilities, in addition to holiday camps for school children and corporate and school wellness programmes. In 2020 she launched her second compan
Gracefull Running Ltd
Drawing on her experiences as a top level athlete and her sports science studies, she developed a model that encapsulates key biomechanical elements of how humans are designed to move within a 'GRACEfull' acronym. Working in conjunction with Sheffield Hallam University, these elements were written into joint detection software which the company now uses to perform online running technique analyses and physio screenings. Working in conjunction with good friend and former rival

Marilyn Okoro Marilyn Chinwenwa Okoro (born 23 September 1984, in London) is a British track and field athlete. She finished third in the 800 metres at both the 2007 and 2008 IAAF World Athletics Final. She was on the bronze winning 4 × 400 m relay at the ...

, she runs another arm of the business, known as GRACEfull Girls. Offering performance and well-being support to up-and-coming female athletes, they seek to nurture a healthy approach to sport for sustained success and happiness.

Charity Work

Thanks to her winters spent training there, Lyne maintains close links to Kenya through a number of school twinnings she established between British and Kenyan schools. As well as orchestrating fundraising activities, the relationships offer mutual benefits including cultural and knowledge exchange. She is an ambassador for Shoe4Africa,Shoe4Africa
/ref> a charity that helps to save and empower vulnerable women and children and donates 10% of subscriptions for her running groups to the charity.

Personal Bests

Athletic Achievements

* 1999 AAA U20 Junior 800m Champion * 2001 AAA U20 Junior 800m Champion * 2001 European Junior 800m 4th * 2002 BUCS, Bedford, 800m Champion * 2002 Commonwealth Games Heats 800m 5th * 2003 European under-23 800m Champion * 2003 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track Championships, California, 800m 3rd * 2004 BUCS, Gateshead, 1500m Champion * 2004 BUCS, Glasgow, 1500m Champion * 2005 World University Championships, Izmir 8th * 2006 European Championships, Gothenburg, 800m 3rd * 2006 Athletics World Cup, Athens, 800m 4th

References

External links

TrYumph in Life CIC

Facebook

Running Technique Workshops
* *
Shoe4Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyne, Becky 1982 births Living people Sportspeople from Sheffield English female middle-distance runners European Athletics Championships medalists Alumni of Loughborough University People educated at Tapton School Butler University alumni AAA Championships winners