Sophie Hitchon (born 11 July 1991) is a retired British

hammer throw The hammer throw is one of the four throwing events in regular track and field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and javelin. The "hammer" used in this sport is not like any of the tools also called by that name. It consist ...

er. She is the British record-holder with a throw of 74.54 metres, set when winning the Olympic bronze medal at the 2016 Rio Games, Great Britain's first ever Olympic medal in the event. She also reached the hammer final at the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

, and is the 2010 World Junior Champion, the 2013 European U23 Champion, and the 2014 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist.

Early life

Hitchon was born in

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

, Lancashire, and attended Wellfield Church Primary School, Ivy Bank Business and Enterprise College and Thomas Whitham Sixth Form. She is studying for a BSc in Business and Sport Management from the

University of Hertfordshire The University of Hertfordshire (UH) is a public university in Hertfordshire, United Kingdom. The university is based largely in Hatfield, Hertfordshire. Its antecedent institution, Hatfield Technical College, was founded in 1948 and was ident ...

. Hitchon practiced

ballet Ballet () is a type of performance dance that originated during the Italian Renaissance in the fifteenth century and later developed into a concert dance form in France and Russia. It has since become a widespread and highly technical form of ...

between the ages of 4 and 14 and credits it for teaching dedication to sport.

Achievements

In April 2007, Hitchon set a new UK Under 17 Women's record with a throw of 49.61m at the

Kingston-upon-Hull Kingston upon Hull, usually abbreviated to Hull, is a port city and unitary authority in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It lies upon the River Hull at its confluence with the Humber Estuary, inland from the North Sea and south-east o ...

AC Open meeting. The previous record was 48.94m achieved by Frances Miller of Elgin Harriers at the 2001 IAAF World Youth Championships in

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 ...

, Hungary. In March 2008, at the age of 16, Hitchon set a new junior record with a throw of 59.74m at the UK Throws event in Birmingham, followed by a 59.49m throw at the Blackpool Open Meeting the same weekend. In July 2009, Hitchon won bronze in the hammer at the European Junior Championships. In doing so she also improved her own national junior record to 63.18m and took Britain's first ever European Junior medal in the women's hammer. A year later, Hitchon was captain of the UK women's team at the IAAF World Junior Championships (Moncton, Canada, 19–25 July), as well as remaining the UK junior hammer record holder. In July 2011, Hitchon represented the UK in the European Under-23 Championships in Ostrava, Czech Republic (14–17 July), taking the bronze medal. At the 2014 Commonwealth Games in Glasgow, Hitchon achieved a bronze medal in the women's Hammer throw with a distance of 68.72m. This was her first success at a senior level championship. At the

2016 Rio Olympics ) , nations = 207 (including IOA and EOR teams) , athletes = 11,238 , events = 306 in 28 sports (41 disciplines) , opening = 5 August 2016 , closing = 21 August 2016 , opened_by = Vice President Michel Temer , cauldron = Vanderlei Cordeiro de ...

, Hitchon achieved a bronze medal in the women's hammer throw with a distance of 74.54 metres on her final attempt, setting a new GB record in the process. It also made her the first British hammer thrower to win an Olympic medal and ended a 28-year Olympic medal drought for GB in women's field events since

Fatima Whitbread Fatima Whitbread (' Vedad; 3 March 1961) is a British retired javelin thrower. She broke the world record with a throw of in the qualifying round of the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, and became the first British athle ...

's silver at

Seoul Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 of ...

in 1988. Hitchon announced her retirement in May 2021.

International competitions

*q = in qualifying

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Hitchon, Sophie 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Burnley English female hammer throwers Olympic female hammer throwers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain British Athletics Championships winners Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games