Levern Donaline Spencer,

SLMM The Sri Lanka Monitoring Mission (SLMM) was a multinational body that existed from 2002 to 2008 to monitor the ceasefire between the Government of Sri Lanka and the Liberation Tigers of Tamil Eelam (LTTE, also known as the ''Tamil Tigers'') during ...

(born 23 June 1984 in Cacao Babonneau, Castries ) is a Saint Lucian retired athlete and high jumper. Spencer was a four-time Olympian for Saint Lucia and competed in eight

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 was also a gold medalist at both 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 ...

and

Pan-American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

Biography

Early career

Born in Castries, Spencer attended the University of Georgia in the

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...

. She earned a bachelor's degree from Georgia in Health Promotion and Behavior, having first embarked upon a course of study in computer science. She competed at several

CARIFTA Games The CARIFTA Games is an annual athletics competition founded by the Caribbean Free Trade Association (CARIFTA). The games was first held in 1972 and consists of track and field events including sprint races, hurdles, middle distance track eve ...

, bringing home gold in 2001. That same year, she earned the bronze medal at the

World Youth Championships in Athletics The IAAF U18 Championships in Athletics (until 2015 known as IAAF World Youth Championships in Athletics) was a global athletics event comprising track and field events for competitors who were 17 or younger (youth = Under-18). The event was orga ...

Debrecen Debrecen ( , is Hungary's second-largest city, after Budapest, the regional centre of the Northern Great Plain region and the seat of Hajdú-Bihar County. A city with county rights, it was the largest Hungarian city in the 18th century and i ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Croatia a ...

, jumping 1.81 m. Earlier in the season, she sailed over 1.84 m, a Saint Lucian national record. In 2002, she won silver medal behind Jamaica's Shaunette Davindson at the CARIFTA Games. Later that year, she finished in eighth place at the World Junior Championships with 1.83 m, far from the winner, Croatia's

Blanka Vlašić Blanka Vlašić (; born 8 November 1983) is a Croatian former track and field athlete who specialized in the high jump. She is a two-time world champion and double Olympic medallist who ranks as the joint second highest female jumper of all tim ...

. At the end of the season, Spencer made her first appearance at the

, ending in 12th place with a jump of 1.74 m. In 2003, she bettered her national record and personal best, clearing 1.86 m twice. Still a junior athlete, she made the final at the

Pan American Games The Pan American Games (also known colloquially as the Pan Am Games) is a continental multi-sport event in the Americas featuring summer sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The competition is held ...

and ended in fifth place. In 2004, she jumped 1.88 m. 2005 was a breakthrough year for Spencer. After turning 21, she won her first major title at the

Central American and Caribbean Championships The Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships is an international track and field athletics event organised by the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC). Only athletes representing a member nation of the confede ...

by clearing a new personal best and national record of 1.94 m. This result earned her a spot in the 2005 World Championships in Athletics. She was eliminated from competition in the qualifying round, only recording 1.84 m. In 2006, she took gold at the NACAC Under-23 Championships and won bronze at the

Central American and Caribbean Games The Central American and Caribbean Games (CAC or CACGs) are a multi-sport regional championship event, held quadrennial (once every four years), typically in the middle (even) year between Summer Olympics. The games are for countries in Cent ...

. At the

, she finished 5th. During the season, she only jumped 1.90 m in April.

First major final (2007) and first olympic team (2008)

During the 2007 season, Spencer won the

NACAC Championships The North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships is a continental track and field athletics event organised by the North American, Central American and Caribbean Athletic Association. The last of the six IAAF areas to hold a conti ...

and took bronze at the

behind Mexico's

Romary Rifka María Romary Rifka González (born 23 December 1970 in Poza Rica, Veracruz) is a Mexican high jumper. She is married to track & field athlete, Alejandro Cárdenas. Her personal best jump is 1.97 metres, achieved in April 2004 in Xalapa ...

and Canada's

Nicole Forrester Nicole Forrester (born 17 November 1976) is a Canadian high jumper. She was born in Aurora, Ontario. Her personal best jump is 1.97 metres, achieved in July 2007 in Thessaloniki. Education and career Forrester completed her Bachelor of Arts i ...

. Competing at her second senior 2007 World Championships in Osaka, Spencer made the final by equalling her own national record of 1.94 m. She finished 15th with 1.90 m in the final. In 2008, Spencer, Dominic Johnson and Erma Gene Evans were the only three athletes representing

Saint Lucia at the 2008 Summer Olympics Saint Lucia sent a delegation to compete at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China. The 2008 Saint Lucian team included four athletes that competed in two sports: swimming and athletics. Of these four athletes, Danielle Beaubrun, at age 1 ...

. She did not make the final, only managing 1.85 m for 27th. Earlier in the season, she won the 2008 Central American and Caribbean Championships with a jump of 1.91 m.

Professional career

In 2009, Spencer signed her first professional contract with Stellar Group, becoming the first high jumper on their roster. She repeated as Central American and Caribbean champion in Havana, Cuba and signed an endorsement deal with Caribbean telecommunications provider LIME. She was featured on the cover of the 2010 LIME Services Directory. After taking the gold medal at the 2009 Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics, Spencer was the sole Saint Lucian to qualify for the

IAAF World Championships in Athletics The World Athletics Championships (until 2019 known as the World Championships in Athletics) are a biennial athletics competition organized by World Athletics (formerly IAAF, International Association of Athletics Federations). Alongside the Ol ...

in Berlin, but she failed to make the final. She also narrowly missed out on making the cut for the season-ending 2009 IAAF World Athletics Final, finishing ninth in the world for women's high jump. On 18 July 2009, she achieved her best jump of 1.95 m in

Zaragoza Zaragoza, also known in English as Saragossa,''Encyclopædia Britannica'"Zaragoza (conventional Saragossa)" is the capital city of the Zaragoza Province and of the autonomous community of Aragon, Spain. It lies by the Ebro river and its tributari ...

. On 8 May 2010, in

Athens, Georgia Athens, officially Athens–Clarke County, is a consolidated city-county and college town in the U.S. state of Georgia. Athens lies about northeast of downtown Atlanta, and is a satellite city of the capital. The University of Georgia, the sta ...

, she cleared 1.98 m to cruise to a victory with what was at the time the second-best jump in the world for the 2010 season. The jump is the Saint Lucia National Record and the record for the Caribbean Community. With this result of 1.98 m, Spencer was the leading women's high jumper in the Commonwealth. At the

in New Delhi, however, she needed two attempts to clear 1.88m, and eventually recorded Saint Lucia's best-ever individual finish at Commonwealth Games athletics with a bronze medal, joining Dominic Johnson, who took bronze in men's Pole Vault in 2002 in Manchester. In 2010, Spencer recorded six of the top ten best jumps of her career. She scored a victory at the 2010 CAC Games with a jump of 1.94 m and also had success on the European circuit, scoring five straight victories in Finland to scoop the 2010 Finnish Elite Games jackpot. In 2011, she failed to make the final at the 2011 World Championships in Daegu, missing by one spot. In the

IAAF Diamond League The Diamond League is an annual series of elite track and field athletic competitions comprising fourteen of the best invitational athletics meetings. The series sits in the top tier of the World Athletics (formerly known as the IAAF) one-day mee ...

, she finished second with 1.92 m behind two-time reigning world champion

. After the world championships, she won her fifth consecutive Central American and Caribbean Championships in Mayagüez but finished in 7th place at the

2011 Pan American Games The 2011 Pan American Games, officially the XVI Pan American Games, was an international multi-sport event that was held from October 14–30, 2011, in Guadalajara, Jalisco, Mexico. Some events were held in the nearby cities of Ciudad Guzmán, ...

. In 2012, Spencer was awarded an Olympic Solidarity Scholarship and began training in

Germany Germany,, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It is the second most populous country in Europe after Russia, and the most populous member state of the European Union. Germany is situated betwe ...

. She qualified for the 2012 Summer Olympics in London but did not make the final, finishing 19th with 1.90 m. In 2013, Spencer won a sixth gold medal at the

Central American and Caribbean Championships in Athletics The Central American and Caribbean (CAC) Championships is an international track and field athletics event organised by the Central American and Caribbean Athletic Confederation (CACAC). Only athletes representing a member nation of the confede ...

, jumping 1.95 m, her highest jump since 2010. At the World Championships in Moscow, she qualified for her second major final, thanks to a 1.92 m jump. She finished 11th in the final. In 2014, Spencer made the finals at the World Indoor Championships with a new national indoor record of 1.95 m in the qualifying rounds, before finishing 7th in the final. This was her best performance at a world championship. Then, she cleared 1.96 m, her best jump since 2010, before successfully defending her

title in Veracruz, Mexico. She won bronze at the

in Glasgow with 1.88 m. behind Australian Eleanor Patterson (1.94 m)and English jumper

Isobel Pooley Isobel Pooley (born 21 December 1992) is a former British track and field athlete who specialises in the high jump. She won a silver medal at the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow. Career Pooley's first high jump was in the gymnasium at Court ...

(1.92 m) She placed fifth at the Continental Cup. She won gold at the Pan Games Festival in Mexico City, Mexico. She placed second at the Organisation of Eastern Caribbean States Championships, behind Jeannelle Scheper, who also beat her at Saint Lucia's National Championships.

First olympic final (2016)

Spencer qualified for the

2015 World Championships in Athletics The 2015 IAAF World Championships ( zh, 第十五届世界田径锦标赛), the fifteenth edition of the IAAF World Championships, were held from 22 to 30 August at the National Stadium in Beijing, China. Forty-three nations won medals, 144 of ...

Beijing } Beijing ( ; ; ), alternatively romanized as Peking ( ), is the capital of the People's Republic of China. It is the center of power and development of the country. Beijing is the world's most populous national capital city, with over 21 ...

, and 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 ...

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

by clearing 1.94 m at the Meeting Madrid in July. She won the Saint Lucia National Championship with a height of 1.90 m. Along with Jeannelle Scheper, Spencer represented Saint Lucia at the 2015 Pan American Games. She won gold with a best height of 1.94 m. It was Saint Lucia's first gold medal ever at the Pan Am Games; the country had been represented at these Games six times since 1985 and then claimed the NACAC Championships title in

San José, Costa Rica San José (; meaning "Saint Joseph") is the capital and largest city of Costa Rica, and the capital of the province of the same name. It is in the center of the country, in the mid-west of the Central Valley, within San José Canton. San ...

. At the

, she again qualified for the final but finished in 12th place with 1.88 m. On 13 February 2016, Spencer equalled her own national indoor record in

Hustopeče Hustopeče (; german: Auspitz) is a town in Břeclav District in the South Moravian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 6,000 inhabitants. It is known for fruit and wine growing. Etymology The name of the town is derived from the name of ...

, with 1.95 m. A month later, at the 2016 IAAF World Indoor Championships, she placed sixth with 1.93 m, three centimeters away from the gold medal, won by American

Vashti Cunningham Vashti Cunningham (born January 18, 1998) is an American track and field athlete specializing in the high jump. She is the daughter of retired National Football League (NFL) quarterback Randall Cunningham, niece of retired NFL fullback Sam Cunni ...

. On 30 April, she jumped a World Lead (WL) of 1.95 m in

Des Moines, Iowa Des Moines () is the capital and the most populous city in the U.S. state of Iowa. It is also the county seat of Polk County. A small part of the city extends into Warren County. It was incorporated on September 22, 1851, as Fort Des Moines, ...

, before attacking 2.00 m., where she failed on three attempts. On 14 May, at the

tour in

Shanghai Shanghai (; , , Standard Mandarin pronunciation: ) is one of the four direct-administered municipalities of the People's Republic of China (PRC). The city is located on the southern estuary of the Yangtze River, with the Huangpu River flow ...

, she earned a victory with a jump of 1.94 m, on countback ahead of Uzbekistan's

Nadiya Dusanova Nadiya Dusanova (; born 17 November 1987 in Tashkent, Uzbekistan) is an Uzbekistani high jumper. She competed at the Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics – Women's high jump, 2008, Athletics at the 2012 Summer Olympics – Women's high jump, ...

. In late June, she won the national title with 1.94 m. She competed in the qualifying round of the women's high jump at the Olympics in August and became the first Saint-Lucian athlete to qualify for the final. She finished in 6th place. Back in Saint Lucia, the local population came to celebrate her performance. Two weeks after the Olympics, she jumped 1.96 m at the

Meeting de Paris Meeting de Paris (formerly known as the Meeting Areva and Meeting Gaz de France) is an annual track and field meeting at the Stade Sébastien Charléty in Paris, France. Previously one of the IAAF Golden League events, it is now part of the Diamon ...

to place second behind

Ruth Beitia Ruth Beitia Vila (; born 1 April 1979) is a retired high jumper who was the 2016 Olympic champion in the women's high jump. She was also a politician in the Partido Popular and a member of the Parliament of Cantabria. Biography Beitia firs ...

. At the end of the season, she finishes second in the

tournament, behind Beitia again. In the 2017 season, Spencer's best jump was 1.92 m. At the 2017 World Championships in London, she was the only Saint-Lucian athlete. She failed to enter into the final, finishing in 13th place in the qualifying round. In 2018, she decided to compete in the indoor season. For her first outing, she cleared the Commonwealth Games standard with 1.90 m. On 27 January, she won the high jump competition in

with 1.93 m, the third best result in the world. Three days later, she equaled her national indoor record from 2014 and 2016 in

Třinec Třinec (; pl, Trzyniec ; german: Trzynietz) is a city in Frýdek-Místek District in the Moravian-Silesian Region of the Czech Republic. It has about 34,000 inhabitants and is the least populated statutory city in the country. The city is a ...

, jumping 1.95 m and claiming victory. She competed at the

2018 NACAC Championships The 2018 North American, Central American and Caribbean Championships was a regional track and field competition held at Varsity Stadium in Toronto, Canada, from August 10–12, 2018. It was the third edition of a senior track and field championshi ...

, winning a third consecutive title at 1.91m.

Retirement

After the Tokyo Olympics, Spencer announced her retirement from athletics on 31 October 2021 at the age of 37.

Achievements

Personal bests

Outdoor progression

Honors and awards

Spencer is a recipient of the following: Order of Saint Lucia ribbon bar

- -

Medal of Merit Several countries award a military or civil medal called Medal of Merit: * Medal of Merit (Czech Republic) * Medal of Merit (Denmark) * Medal of Merit of the Dominican Woman * Medal of Merit of the National People's Army (East Germany) * Medal o ...

(2016)

References

External links