Karen Beckman (Bridge) (1960 – June 2020) was a female

badminton Badminton is a racquet sport played using racquets to hit a shuttlecock across a net. Although it may be played with larger teams, the most common forms of the game are "singles" (with one player per side) and "doubles" (with two players pe ...

player of

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

Career

She won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

s at the

1980 IBF World Championships The 1980 IBF World Championships were held in Jakarta, Indonesia in 1980. Medalists Medal table Events References External links *http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Page/straitstimes19800528.1.26.aspx *http://newspapers.nl.sg/Digitised/Pag ...

in women's doubles with

Barbara Sutton Barbara Sutton née Barbara Giles is a retired female badminton player from England. Career She won a bronze medal at the 1980 IBF World Championships in women's doubles with Karen Bridge. She represented England at the 1978 Commonwealth Games ...

. She represented

and won a

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 ...

in the team event, at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta from 3 to 12 August 1978, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics were held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with apar ...

Edmonton Edmonton ( ) is the capital city of the Canadian province of Alberta. Edmonton is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Alberta's central region. The city ancho ...

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. In addition she reached the quarter finals of the doubles and mixed doubles. Four years later, as Karen Beckman she represented

and won a gold medal in the team event and two

silver medal A silver medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc ...

s in the women's doubles and mixed doubles, at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the a ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the states and territories of Australia, Australian state of Queensland, and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a populati ...

Queensland ) , nickname = Sunshine State , image_map = Queensland in Australia.svg , map_caption = Location of Queensland in Australia , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name = Australia , established_title = Before federation , established_ ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

. The mixed doubles medal was with her brother, Duncan Bridge.

Personal life

She was a coach for the Wilson Boys' School's badminton team and a part-time coach for the Wimbledon Racquets and Fitness Club's junior badminton team towards the end of her life. She has a son, Ben Beckman, who has also successfully played badminton for England. Beckman died of cancer in June 2020.

References

European resultsEnglish statistics
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bridge, Karen English female badminton players 1960 births 2020 deaths Deaths from cancer in England Badminton players at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games medallists in badminton Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England 20th-century English women