Janet Margaret Boyle (born 25 July 1963) is a former

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er from

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label= Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is variously described as a country, province or region. Nort ...

. She represented Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the

1988 Olympic Games 1988 Olympics refers to both: *The 1988 Winter Olympics, which were held in Calgary, Alberta, Canada *The 1988 Summer Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul ...

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...

. 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 exce ...

, she won a bronze medal in Edinburgh 1986 and a silver medal in Auckland 1990.

Early life

Boyle was born in

Belfast Belfast ( , ; from ga, Béal Feirste , meaning 'mouth of the sand-bank ford') is the capital and largest city of Northern Ireland, standing on the banks of the River Lagan on the east coast. It is the 12th-largest city in the United Kingdo ...

Athletics career

Boyle first came to prominence in 1983, finishing second at the UK Championships with 1.80 metres and third at the

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 ...

with 1.85 m. Boyle won her first UK title in 1985 with a clearance of 1.86m. In 1986, she earned selection for both the

and 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, ...

. At the Commonwealth Games in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

, representing Northern Ireland in a high quality competition, she won the bronze medal with a personal best of 1.90m. Northern Ireland won two medals, as her teammate

Sharon McPeake Sharon Hutchings (née McPeake, born 22 June 1962) is a former high jumper from Northern Ireland. She won a silver medal at the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh with a lifetime best of . Career McPeake was born in Ballymena, Northern Ireland ...

won the silver medal, also clearing 1.90m. At the Europeans in

Stuttgart Stuttgart (; Swabian: ; ) is the capital and largest city of the German state of Baden-Württemberg. It is located on the Neckar river in a fertile valley known as the ''Stuttgarter Kessel'' (Stuttgart Cauldron) and lies an hour from the ...

, she was eliminated in the qualifying round with a best of 1.83m. She ended the season by improving her PB at a meeting at the Crystal Palace in September, clearing 1.91m. In 1987, Boyle won the AAAs indoor title with a jump of 1.90m and went on to finish sixth at the

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet courts. Finals Singles Doubles See also * Berlin Open ...

in Lievin, with 1.91m. This would remain her best ever indoor clearance. Outdoors, she placed second to Diana Davies at the UK Championships. No female high jumper from the UK was selected for that years World Championships in Rome. Boyle reached her peak in 1988. She won at the AAAs Championships, also incorporating the UK Olympic trials, equalling her PB of 1.91m. Then at the

Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and commonly known as Seoul 1988 ( ko, 서울 1988, Seoul Cheon gubaek palsip-pal), was an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October ...

she achieved her lifetime best with 1.92m in the qualifying round, to reach the Olympic final. In the final, she cleared 1.90m to finish 12th. Diana Davies also reached the final, finishing equal eighth, making 1988 the last time (as of 2014) that two women from the UK reached the Olympic high jump final. Boyle continued as one of the UK's leading jumpers for the next four years. In 1989, she won her second UK title with a 1.83m clearance. In 1990, at her second

Auckland Auckland (pronounced ) ( mi, Tāmaki Makaurau) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. The List of New Zealand urban areas by population, most populous urban area in the country and the List of cities in Oceania by po ...

, she won the silver medal with 1.88m, losing the gold medal in a jump off with

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

Tania Murray Tania Murray Haigh (formerly Dixon, née Murray; born 3 October 1970) is a former New Zealand high jumper and triple jumper. She won the gold medal in the women's high jump representing her country at the 1990 Commonwealth Games, and won eight ...

. In 1991, she was third at the UK Championships and second at the AAAs Championships, behind

Debbie Marti Deborah Jane Marti (born 14 May 1968) is a former high jumper from England, who was born in Switzerland. She represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Athletics at the 1996 Summer Olympics, Barcelona 1992 and Athletics at the 1996 Summer ...

. She competed at the 1992 AAAs Championships, which were also the Olympic trials, but failed to earn selection for the Barcelona Olympics. As of 2015, Boyle's best of 1.92m from Seoul in 1988, ranks her 11th on the UK all-time list and remains the Northern Irish record.

Achievements

*AAAs National Champion (1988) *UK National Champion (1985, 1989) *AAAs National Indoor Champion (1987) *Northern Irish Champion (1985, 1988) Notes: *Result with (q) indicate overall position in qualifying round. *Height in (#) indicates height achieved in qualifying round

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Boyle, Janet Athletes from Belfast Female high jumpers from Northern Ireland Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Northern Ireland Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics 1963 births Living people Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1990 Commonwealth Games