Kelsey-Lee Barber (

née A birth name is the name of a person given upon birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name, or the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a birth certificate or birth re ...

Roberts; born 20 September 1991) is an Australian

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 events ...

athlete who competes in the

javelin throw The javelin throw is a track and field event where the javelin, a spear about in length, is thrown. The javelin thrower gains momentum by running within a predetermined area. Javelin throwing is an event of both the men's decathlon and the ...

. She won gold at the 2019 World Championships, and her personal best of 67.70 m ranks her 13th in the overall list. Barber is based at the Queensland Academy of Sport in Brisbane. She was formerly based at the

Australian Institute of Sport The Australian Institute of Sport (AIS) is a high performance sports training institution in Australia. The Institute's headquarters were opened in 1981 and are situated in the northern suburb of Bruce, Canberra. The AIS is a division of the ...

Canberra Canberra ( ) is the capital city of Australia. Founded following the federation of the colonies of Australia as the seat of government for the new nation, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The ci ...

Personal life

Born in

East London East or Orient is one of the four cardinal directions or points of the compass. It is the opposite direction from west and is the direction from which the Sun rises on the Earth. Etymology As in other languages, the word is formed from the f ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

, Barber's family moved to Australia in 2000. It was this relocation that setup the career of Barber. Barber arrived in Australia during the Sydney Olympics and lived in

Corryong Corryong is a small town in Victoria, Australia east of Albury-Wodonga, near the upper reaches of the Murray River and close to the New South Wales border. At the , Corryong had a population of 1,348. The post office opened on 1 February 18 ...

Victoria Victoria most commonly refers to: * Victoria (Australia), a state of the Commonwealth of Australia * Victoria, British Columbia, provincial capital of British Columbia, Canada * Victoria (mythology), Roman goddess of Victory * Victoria, Seychelle ...

. Her uncle and aunt owned a dairy farm and she competed in athletics at the school carnival. She was so successful that she progressed in discus competitions through the zone and regional carnivals. She moved from Corryong to

in 2007 and started taking athletics more seriously. She trained with a coach and at age 17 won the javelin at the Pacific School Games in Canberra. She married her coach Mike Barber after the 2018 Commonwealth Games.

Career

Barber made her international debut 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 ...

, finishing third with 62.95 m. She competed at the 2015 World Championships in Beijing without qualifying for the final. A back injury in early 2016 disrupted her preparation for the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics ( pt, Jogos Olímpicos de Verão de 2016), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad ( pt, Jogos da XXXI Olimpíada) and also known as Rio 2016, was an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 20 ...

and she finished 28th in qualifying. Barber had a breakthrough season in 2017. She produced three consecutive personal bests in competitions in Turku, Lausanne and London. At the

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, ...

, she qualified automatically for the final and finished 10th. She finished the season with a silver medal at the Diamond League Final in Zurich and another personal best of 64.53 m. In 2018, she placed second at the national titles behind

Kathryn Mitchell Kathryn Mitchell (born 10 July 1982) is an Australian track and field athlete who competes in the javelin throw. She has represented her country at three Olympic Games, finishing ninth in 2012 and sixth in 2016. She won gold at the 2018 Common ...

. Barber threw a new personal best of 64.57 m at the Queensland International Track Classic in Brisbane on 28 March. In the

2018 Commonwealth Games The 2018 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XXI Commonwealth Games and also known as Gold Coast 2018, was an international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth that were held on the Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia, bet ...

Barber received a silver medal with a 63.89 m throw. Barber won gold at the 2019 Oceania Athletics Championships with a personal best and championship record 65.61 m throw. At the

Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern The Spitzen Leichtathletik Luzern (English: Top Athletics Lucerne) is an annual track and field meet that takes place in Lucerne, Switzerland. First held in 1987, the meeting usually takes place in July at Stadion Allmend. Meeting records Men ...

in July, she won gold and improved on her personal best, throwing 67.70 m. This also moved Barber to second on the Oceanian list behind Mitchell, and into 12th in the overall list. She won the

gold medal A gold medal is a medal awarded for highest achievement in a non-military field. Its name derives from the use of at least a fraction of gold in form of plating or alloying in its manufacture. Since the eighteenth century, gold medals have bee ...

at the 2019 World Championships with 66.56 m on the final throw, moving her from 4th to 1st place. She was recognised in the

Canberra Sport Awards Canberra Sport Awards or CBR Sport Awards were originally established in 1984 by the Board of ACT Sports House. From 1984 to 2014 they were referred to as ACT Sportstar of the Year Awards and organised by ACTSPORT. The ACT Government took over the A ...

as Female Athlete of the Year. In 2021, following the

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was COVID-19 pandemic in Hubei, identified in Wuhan, China, in December ...

disruptions to competition, Barber threw 61.09 m to place second at the national titles. Barber won bronze in the final at the

2020 Summer Olympics The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

Tokyo Tokyo (; ja, 東京, , ), officially the Tokyo Metropolis ( ja, 東京都, label=none, ), is the capital and largest city of Japan. Formerly known as Edo, its metropolitan area () is the most populous in the world, with an estimated 37.468 ...

, throwing 64.56m. At the

2022 World Athletics Championships The 2022 World Athletics Championships was the eighteenth edition of the World Athletics Championships. It was held at Hayward Field in Eugene, Oregon, United States, from July 15–24, 2022, with the country hosting that competition for the f ...

, Barber won a gold medal in javelin, making her the first woman to ever retain the women's World Championships javelin title.Later that year, she also won a gold medal at the 2022 Commonwealth Games with a throw of 64.43m.

Competition record

Seasonal bests by year

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Barber, Kelsey-Lee Australian female javelin throwers Living people Sportspeople from East London, Eastern Cape 1991 births World Athletics Championships athletes for Australia Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes of Australia Olympic female javelin throwers Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Australia South African emigrants to Australia World Athletics Championships medalists World Athletics Championships winners Australian Athletics Championships winners Medalists at the 2020 Summer Olympics Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Olympic bronze medalists for Australia People educated at Lake Ginninderra College Medallists at the 2018 Commonwealth Games