Sarah Jane Bainbridge (born 7 October 1982 in

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830 ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a historic county, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significantly. The non-metropolitan county of Lancashi ...

) is an English

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. T ...

practitioner, who competed in the women's welterweight category. She won a gold medal in the 68-kg division at the 1999 European Junior Championships in

Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, Romanization of Armenian, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, Capital city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is ...

, retrieved a bronze at the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sym ...

Daegu, South Korea Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

, and had been thereby selected to

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their British Olympic team. The brand was developed after the nation's poor performance in the 1996 Summer Olympics, and is now a trademark of the BOA. I ...

's four-person taekwondo squad for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics ( el, Θερινοί Ολυμπιακοί Αγώνες 2004, ), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad ( el, Αγώνες της 28ης Ολυμπιάδας, ) and also known as Athens 2004 ( el, Αθήνα 2004), ...

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital and largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh largest city in the European Union. Athens dominates ...

. Starting her career at age 16, Bainbridge trained full-time for Fleetwood Taekwondo Club in her native

, under her personal coach, master, and father Alan Bainbridge. Bainbridge spurred public attention on her senior debut at the

, where she shared bronze medals with the Netherlands' Luttikhuis Oude in the women's 67-kg division. At the

, Bainbridge qualified for

's taekwondo squad in the women's welterweight class (67 kg). Earlier in the process, she finished second behind Croatia's Sandra Šarić from the European Olympic Qualifying Tournament in

Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

to assure a spot on the British Olympic team. Bainbridge produced a cautious fight against the Netherlands'

Charmie Sobers Charmian Colette "Charmie" Sobers (born 19 January 1973 in Willemstad, Curaçao) is a retired Dutch taekwondo practitioner of Curaçaoan descent. Sobers qualified for the Netherlands in the women's welterweight category (67 kg) at the 2004 ...

during her opening bout, resulting in a defeat by just a single-point deficit with a narrow record of 6–7. When Sobers lost the quarterfinal match to her Filipino opponent Mary Antoinette Rivero, Bainbridge denied her chance to compete for Great Britain's first ever Olympic medal in the repechage.

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people English female taekwondo practitioners Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Great Britain Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics Sportspeople from Fleetwood Summer World University Games medalists in taekwondo FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade {{UK-taekwondo-bio-stub