Joanne Conway (born 11 March 1971) is a British former competitive

figure skater Figure skating is a sport in which individuals, pairs, or groups perform on figure skates on ice. It was the first winter sport to be included in the Olympic Games, when contested at the 1908 Olympics in London. The Olympic disciplines are me ...

. A six-time British national champion, she placed as high as 4th 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, ...

and 7th at the World Championships. She also competed at two Winter Olympics.

Career

Conway began skating as a four-year-old, her father taking her and her siblings to the local rink on weekends. At age 12, she sustained a cut to her Achilles tendon in a collision with another skater. Conway was coached mainly by

Carlo Fassi Carlo Fassi (20 December 1929 – 20 March 1997) was an Italian figure skater and international coach whose students included several World and Olympic champions. As a single skater, he was the 1953 World bronze medalist, a two-time European c ...

and also spent a summer in the United States training under Robin Cousins. She would win six British national titles, claiming her first at the age of 14. She made her major championship debut at the 1986 European Championships, finishing 11th. She went on to achieve top-ten placings three times at the World Championships and four times at

. Her most successful year was 1991, when she finished 4th at the

and 7th at the World Championships. She also competed twice at the Winter Olympics, finishing 12th in

1988 File:1988 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The oil platform Piper Alpha explodes and collapses in the North Sea, killing 165 workers; The USS Vincennes (CG-49) mistakenly shoots down Iran Air Flight 655; Australia celebrates its Australian ...

and 18th in

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

. She was the first British woman to land a triple flip successfully in competition, at the 1991 European Championships. Conway retired from competitive skating in 1992 and turned professional, becoming a regular performer in the ''

Hot Ice Show The Hot Ice Show is a long-running ice show at Blackpool Pleasure Beach, United Kingdom. The show has been running at the park since 1936, when it began production as the Ice Parades. It is performed in the Pleasure Beach Arena, formerly the Ice D ...

'' at

Blackpool Pleasure Beach Blackpool Pleasure Beach is an amusement park situated on Blackpool's South Shore, in the county of Lancashire, North West England. It operates as a secure facility, and has introduced epayments via smartphones for admission charges, replacin ...

. She was appointed head coach in 2005. In 2008, Conway moved to coach in

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

. After returning to the UK in 2012, she worked as a coach and arena manager at Blackpool Pleasure Beach Arena. As of 2021, she is an estate agent in

Lytham St Annes Lytham St Annes () is a seaside town in the Borough of Fylde in Lancashire, England. It is on the The Fylde, Fylde coast, directly south of Blackpool on the Ribble Estuary. The population at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census was 42,954 ...

Personal life

Born in

Wallsend Wallsend is a town in North Tyneside, England, at the eastern end of Hadrian's Wall. It has a population of 43,842 and lies east of Newcastle upon Tyne. History Roman Wallsend In Roman times, this was the site of the fort of Segedunum. This fo ...

Northumberland Northumberland () is a county in Northern England, one of two counties in England which border with Scotland. Notable landmarks in the county include Alnwick Castle, Bamburgh Castle, Hadrian's Wall and Hexham Abbey. It is bordered by land on ...

, Conway attended Preston High School in North Shields. She was raised with two siblings, a brother and sister. Her mother worked as a nurse and her father was employed at the Fish Quay market. In 1997, Conway divorced footballer

Gary Owers Gary Owers (born 3 October 1968) is an English former professional footballer, and football manager. He most recently managed Torquay United. He was previously manager of Bath City and Forest Green Rovers as well as the assistant manager at Alde ...

after five years of marriage. She later married and divorced skating coach John Dunn, with whom she has a daughter, Saskia, and son, Haydn.

Competitive highlights

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Conway, Joanne Living people 1971 births British female single skaters Olympic figure skaters for Great Britain Figure skaters at the 1988 Winter Olympics Figure skaters at the 1992 Winter Olympics Sportspeople from Wallsend