Emily Diamond (born 11 June 1991 in

Bristol Bristol () is a city, ceremonial county and unitary authority in England. Situated on the River Avon, it is bordered by the ceremonial counties of Gloucestershire to the north and Somerset to the south. Bristol is the most populous city in ...

) is a British

track and field Track and field is a sport that includes athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name is derived from where the sport takes place, a running track and a grass field for the throwing and some of the jumping eve ...

athlete, who competes in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

and 400 metres. Diamond came to prominence in her breakout season of 2016 when, following her first win at the British Championships over the 400 metres distance, she collected a gold medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the

2016 European Athletics Championships The 2016 European Athletics Championships was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 6 and 10 July 2016. It was the first time the Netherlands hosted the event. Due to 2016 being an Olympic year, there was no racewalking and the marathon compet ...

as part of the Great Britain team, followed by a bronze in the same discipline at the 2016 Summer Olympics.

Career

Diamond took up athletics whilst attending

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 mixed, independent day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowed by wealthy Bristol merchants Robert and Nicholas Thorn ...

, where she notably beat Nicola Phillips in the 1500m at Sports Day. While there she won the junior girls' race at the Bristol Schools' Cross Country Championships. In 2009, representing Avon, she won the English Schools' senior girls' 200 metres title. Both her mother and grandmother had previously competed for England in long jump. Diamond was selected for Great Britain team at the 2011 World University Games held in

Shenzhen Shenzhen (; ; ; ), also historically known as Sham Chun, is a major sub-provincial city and one of the special economic zones of China. The city is located on the east bank of the Pearl River estuary on the central coast of southern province ...

Guangdong Guangdong (, ), alternatively romanized as Canton or Kwangtung, is a coastal province in South China on the north shore of the South China Sea. The capital of the province is Guangzhou. With a population of 126.01 million (as of 2020) ...

, China. Competing in the 200 metres she progressed to the final and finished eighth. Diamond also ran a leg of the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

winning a bronze medal as part of a team with Kelly Massey, Charlotte Best and Meghan Beesley. At the 2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics held in Moncton,

New Brunswick New Brunswick (french: Nouveau-Brunswick, , locally ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is one of the three Maritime provinces and one of the four Atlantic provinces. It is the only province with both English and ...

, Canada, Diamond made the final of the 200 metres and finished in sixth position with a time of 23.62 seconds. At the 2012 UK Olympic Trials in Birmingham Diamond ran a time of 53.36 seconds to finish fourth in the final of the 400 metres. This result lead to her being selected as a reserve for the women's 4 x 400 metres relay squad at the

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation and the team of selected athletes was o ...

in London. Her selection came despite Diamond having only run the distance competitively six times in outdoor competition. Diamond was part of the English 4 x 400 metres team that won bronze at the 2014 Commonwealth Games, but only ran in the heats. In 2016, she won a gold medal as part of the Great Britain 4 x 400 m team at the European Championships, her first senior gold medal. She won a bronze medal in the

at the 2016 Summer Olympics in Rio. In the individual event, she reached the semifinals. She was part of the Great Britain squad that won silver at the 2017 World Championships. Diamond is a member of the Bristol and West Athletic Club and also represents Loughborough University where she is coached by former international 400 metres runner Jared Deacon.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Emily 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Bristol British female sprinters English female sprinters Olympic female sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Team Bath track and field athletes People educated at Bristol Grammar School Alumni of Loughborough University