Joan Jeanetta Baptiste (born 12 October 1959) is a former British sprinter who competed mainly in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been conteste ...

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

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. In mathematics Four is the smallest c ...

. She won a silver medal at the inaugural

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 1983 in the 4 × 100 m relay and competed in the 200 metres at the 1984 Olympic Games in Los Angeles.

Career

Baptiste was born in

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305) ...

and was a member of the

Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club was formed in 1967 and has its home ground at Aldersley Leisure Village formally Aldersley Stadium in Aldersley, Wolverhampton, England. It won the Men's National League Division One from 1975 to 1982 and th ...

. She emerged in 1983, winning the AAAs indoor 200 m title, before breaking the UK indoor record with 23.37 secs to win a silver medal at the European Indoor Championships in Budapest, the winner was Marita Koch. Later that year, she competed at the

in Helsinki, where she won a silver medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay, running the first leg. Her teammates were

Kathy Cook Kathryn Jane Cook (née Smallwood; born 3 May 1960) is a former elite athlete, specialising in sprint and sprint relays. She is one of the most successful female sprinters in British athletics history. She is three-times an Olympic bronze meda ...

, Bev Callender and Shirley Thomas. They ran 42.71 secs, finishing behind the East Germans and just ahead of the fast finishing Jamaicans. She also reached the semi-finals of the 200 metres. Baptiste reached the 200 metres semi-finals at the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and also known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the secon ...

, running a lifetime best of 22.86 secs. She improved her own UK indoor record to 23.33 secs in Stuttgart in 1985. She went on to finish fourth in the 200 metres final at the 1985 European Indoor Championships. Her 23.33 would remain the national indoor record for nine years, until

Katharine Merry Katharine Merry (born 21 September 1974) is an English former sprinter. She won the bronze medal in the 400 metres at the 2000 Sydney Olympics and was the fastest woman in the world over 400 m in 2001, with her career best of 49.59 seconds. Sh ...

ran 23.00 in 1994, in Glasgow. In 1986, Baptiste won a

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 ...

gold medal in Edinburgh in the 4 × 100 m relay, along with

Paula Dunn Paula Dunn , (formerly Thomas, born 3 December 1964) is an English former sprinter who competed in the 100 metres, 200 metres and 4 x 100 metres relay. She represented Great Britain in all three events at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul. She is ...

, Kathy Cook and

Heather Oakes Heather Regina Oakes (née Hunte born 14 August 1959) is a female English former sprinter who competed mainly in the 100 metres. In the 4 × 100m relay, she won Olympic bronze medals in Moscow 1980 and Los Angeles 1984. She also won a silver m ...

. She won the AAAs National title at 200 metres in 1987 and competed that year at the

in Rome as a member of the sprint relay squad.

Personal bests

*100 metres – 11.32 Zurich SWI 24 August 1983 *200 metres – 22.86 Los Angeles USA 9 August 1984 *200 metres (indoors) 23.33 23 February 1985 (former UK indoor record)

References

*
European Indoor Championships
1959 births Living people British female sprinters Saint Vincent and the Grenadines emigrants to the United Kingdom Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Black British sportswomen World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Olympic female sprinters Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games {{UK-athletics-bio-stub