Melanie Neef (born 26 May 1970) is a British former

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 ...

sprinter who specialised in the

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics (sport), athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor runn ...

. She represented her country at the

1995 World Championships in Athletics The 5th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Ullevi Stadium, Gothenburg, Sweden on 5–13 August 1995. This edition featured 1804 athletes from 191 nat ...

and

1995 IAAF World Indoor Championships File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

. She set her lifetime best of 51.18 seconds at the outdoor event.Melanie Neef
IAAF. Retrieved on 2017-02-18. Born in Scotland to German footballer Gerhardt Neef, who was playing for

Rangers F.C. Rangers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the Govan district of Glasgow which plays in the Scottish Premiership. Although not its official name, it is often referred to as Glasgow Rangers outside Scotland. The fou ...

, she became involved in

athletics Athletics may refer to: Sports * Sport of athletics, a collection of sporting events that involve competitive running, jumping, throwing, and walking ** Track and field, a sub-category of the above sport * Athletics (physical culture), competiti ...

with the City of

Glasgow Glasgow ( ; sco, Glesca or ; gd, Glaschu ) is the most populous city in Scotland and the fourth-most populous city in the United Kingdom, as well as being the 27th largest city by population in Europe. In 2020, it had an estimated popul ...

club.Melanie Neef
Power of 10. Retrieved on 2017-02-18. Her first international medal came at the

1991 Summer Universiade __NOTOC__ The 1991 Summer Universiade, officially known as the XVI Summer Universiade and generally referred to as the World Student Games, were held in Sheffield, England from 14 to 25 July 1991. The Games were the largest sporting event to be ho ...

where she was runner-up with the British women's

4 × 100 metres relay The 4 × 100 metres relay or sprint relay is an athletics track event run in lanes over one lap of the track with four runners completing 100 metres each. The first runners must begin in the same stagger as for the individu ...

team. She won senior gold medals with the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap. It is traditionally the final event of a track meet. At top class events, th ...

team at the 1994 European Cup and

1994 IAAF World Cup The 7th IAAF World Cup in Athletics was an international track and field sporting event sponsored by the International Association of Athletics Federations, held on September 9–11, 1994, at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre in London, Engl ...

, as well as a fourth place at the

1994 European Athletics Championships The 16th European Athletics Championships were held from 7 August to 14 August 1994 in the Olympic Stadium of Helsinki, Finland. Men's results Complete results were published. Track 1986 , 1990 , 1994 , 1998 , 2002 , Field 1986 , 1990 , 199 ...

. Neef took an individual silver medal at the 1994 European Cup behind Russia's

Svetlana Goncharenko Svetlana Valentinovna Goncharenko (russian: Светлана Валентиновна Гончаренко; born May 28, 1971 in Rostov-on-Don as Svetlana Doronina) is a former Russian athlete who mainly competed in the 200 metres. In addition to ...

and returned the following year to win gold. She was a finalist individually at the 1994 European Championships and came sixth for Scotland at the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, from 18 to 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, boxing, cycling, ...

. Her last individual international outing was at the

, where she was fourth in her semi-final. She was a four-time national champion during her brief career, taking 400 m title outdoors at the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the officia ...

in 1994 and 1995, and the national indoor title at the

AAA Indoor Championships The AAA Indoor Championships was an annual indoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost indoor domestic athletics event during its lifetime. The event was first held in 1935, fol ...

in 1995 and 1996.AAA Championships (Women)
GBR Athletics. Retrieved on 2017-02-18.

International competitions

National titles

**400 m: 1994, 1995 *

**400 m: 1995, 1996

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Neef, Melanie Living people 1970 births British female sprinters Scottish female sprinters World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Commonwealth Games competitors for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Scottish people of German descent Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1991 Summer Universiade