Eilidh Doyle (pronounced AY-lee ; née Child; born 20 February 1987) is a retired 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 specialised in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once ...

and the 4 x 400 metres relay. She represented Great Britain at the

2012 Olympic Games The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay at the 2016 Games in

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. Doyle is the Scottish record holder for the 400 metres hurdles with 54.09 sec (2016) and the indoor

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is o ...

with 51.45 sec (2013). With 17 medals from major championships, Doyle retired as the most decorated Scottish

athlete of all time. She is the 2014 European Champion and a three-time

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

silver medalist (

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and

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) in the

. Her other honours include three

World Championship A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

relay medals (

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, and

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), and is a former

world and European indoor medalist.

Career

Eilidh Child was born in

Perth, Scotland Perth (Scottish English, locally: ; gd, Peairt ) is a city in central Scotland, on the banks of the River Tay. It is the administrative centre of Perth and Kinross council area and the historic county town of Perthshire. It had a population o ...

. As a youngster, she twice won the U13 Scottish Schools butterfly swimming title. One of her sisters is a writer, the other used to compete at triple jump and her brother is a footballer. In 2009, Child significantly improved her personal best for the 400m hurdles from 56.84 to 55.32, to finish second at the European U23 Championships in Kaunus, Lithuania, behind fellow British athlete

Perri Shakes-Drayton Peirresha Alexandra Shakes-Drayton (born 21 December 1988) is a British retired track and field athlete. After specialising in the 400 metres hurdles in the early part of her career, a knee injury at the 2013 World Championships forced Shakes-D ...

. She also qualified for that year's

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game, ...

in Berlin, reaching the semi-finals. In 2010, she further improved to 55.16 at the London Diamond League in August. Then in October, she won a silver medal at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games, often referred to as the Friendly Games or simply the Comm Games, are a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930, and, with the ex ...

in Delhi in 55.62. In 2012, Child ran below 55 seconds for the 400 metres hurdles for the first time, with 54.96 on 2 June in Geneva. Two weeks later, she earned Olympic selection, with 55.53 for second behind Shakes-Drayton at the Olympic trials. At the London Olympics, she reached the semi-finals, running 56.02. She won two medals at the 2013 European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, with silver in the 400 metres behind teammate Perri Shakes-Drayton, breaking the Scottish indoor record in the process, with 51.45. She then added a gold in the 4x400 m relay. The British quartet of

Christine Ohuruogu Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu , MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is a former Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and ...

Shana Cox Shana Amanda Cox (born January 22, 1985) is an American-born track and field athlete, who competes internationally for Great Britain since 2011. She specialises in the 200 metres and 400 metres. Cox was born in Brooklyn, New York to parents of ...

, Child, and Shakes-Drayton also improved the UK indoor record to 3:27.56. Outdoors, she broke the Scottish 400 metres hurdles record with 54.22 in Birmingham in June. Then in August, at the

in Moscow, she ran 54.32 in her semi-final to reach the final. In the final she was fifth in 54.86. Alongside Cox, Margaret Adeoye and Ohuruogu, she won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay. Child captained the first ever Scotland team at the Glasgow International match in January 2014. As captain of the GB & NI team at the 2014 World Indoor Championships in Sopot, she won a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay. 2014 also saw her secure her first 400 metres hurdles British title, and take victory at the first ever

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

meeting in Scotland, the Glasgow Grand Prix. in a European leading time of 54.39. At the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

, Child captained the Scottish athletics team to its best medal haul since

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, winning another silver medal in the 400 m hurdles behind Kaliese Spencer of Jamaica. Two weeks later, at the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

in Zürich, she won a gold medal in the 400 m hurdles, running 54.48. She became the first British woman to win the European 400 m hurdles title for 20 years, the previous British winner being Sally Gunnell in 1994. In May 2016, Child won the 400 metres hurdles at the

Doha Diamond League The Doha Diamond League is an annual one-day track and field meeting held at the Suheim bin Hamad Stadium in Doha, Qatar. It is part of the Diamond League – the top level international circuit for the sport. It is typically held in May as the fi ...

meeting in a time of 54.53 seconds, competing for the first time under her married name, Doyle. On 15 July 2016, she won the Diamond League meeting in Monaco, setting a new personal best of 54.09 seconds. At the Rio Olympics, she reached the final of the

, finishing eighth in 54.61, before going on to win a bronze medal in the 4 x 400 metres relay, the first Scottish Olympic track and field medal since

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. In July 2017, it was announced that Doyle had been elected by her team-mates as Captain for the GB Team at the

in London, which included the largest number of Scottish athletes ever selected for a major championships. At the Championships she finished 8th in the final of the

400 m hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

but would go on to win a silver in the 4×400 m relay. In winning the silver medal, Doyle surpassed

Yvonne Murray Yvonne Carole Grace Murray-Mooney (née Murray, born 4 October 1964), is a Scottish former middle-distance and long-distance track and road-running athlete. She won a bronze medal in the 3000 metres at the 1988 Oly ...

as the most decorated Scottish athlete in Olympic World, European and Commonwealth competition. In 2018, Doyle started the season of well winning a bronze medal at the World Indoor Championships in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

in a seasons best time, despite tearing her calf in the final. Along with

Laura Muir Laura Muir (born 9 May 1993) is a Scottish middle- and long-distance runner. She is the 2020 Tokyo Olympic silver medallist in the 1500 metres, having previously finished seventh in the event at the 2016 Rio Olympics. Muir won the bronze meda ...

, they were the first Scottish individual medalists at the championships for 25 years. Chosen by her peers to be the first ever female flag bearer for

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

(chosen for the

opening ceremony An opening ceremony, grand opening, or ribbon-cutting ceremony marks the official opening of a newly-constructed location or the start of an event.

) at the

, she went on to win her third Commonwealth Games silver medal with a time of 54.80 seconds. In August, Doyle made a joint-British record equalling fifth appearance at the

Berlin Berlin ( , ) is the capital and largest city of Germany by both area and population. Its 3.7 million inhabitants make it the European Union's most populous city, according to population within city limits. One of Germany's sixteen constitu ...

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, Doyle was included in the largest contingent of Scottish athletes to be selected for a British team at a

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis Tennis is a racket sport that is played either individually against a single opponent (singles) or between two teams of two players each (doubles). Each player uses a tennis racket that ...

for over 50 years.

Retirement

In August 2019, Doyle announced that she would miss the rest of the season as she was due to have a baby in January 2020, although she planned to return to athletics after the birth. Doyle announced her retirement in May 2021. Doyle retired as the most decorated Scottish

athlete of all time. She accumulated a total of 17 medals from major championships at

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

world In its most general sense, the term "world" refers to the totality of entities, to the whole of reality or to everything that is. The nature of the world has been conceptualized differently in different fields. Some conceptions see the worl ...

, European, and

level. If the World Relays and Continental Cup are to be included the medal tally totals 19.

Personal life

Doyle has a degree in Physical Education from

Edinburgh University The University of Edinburgh ( sco, University o Edinburgh, gd, Oilthigh Dhùn Èideann; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Granted ...

and was formerly a full-time PE teacher at Perth Grammar School until she decided to focus further on her training, allowing her to relocate to Bath. Doyle is a supporter of Hearts FC where she has a season ticket. She wears a maroon and white wristband during all her races in support of the club. In October 2015 she married former 400 metre runner Brian Doyle.

Career achievements

National records

Domestic medals record

International competitions

Circuit wins and titles

Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

:: 400 metres hurdles wins, other events specified in parenthesis :*

: Glasgow Grand Prix :*

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Herculis The Herculis is an annual track and field meet at Stade Louis II in Fontvieille, Monaco. Previously one of the five IAAF Super Grand Prix events, it is now part of the Diamond League. World records Over the course of its history, five world re ...

, QAS Grand Prix

Awards and nominations

Notes

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Doyle, Eilidh 1987 births Living people Sportspeople from Perth, Scotland British female hurdlers Scottish female hurdlers Scottish schoolteachers Olympic female hurdlers Olympic athletes of Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Indoor Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Indoor Championships winners British Athletics Championships winners Team Bath track and field athletes Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Scottish Olympic medallists