Andrea Melissa Blackett (born 24 January 1976, in

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

) is a Barbadian athlete who specializes in the

400 metres hurdles The 400 metres hurdles is a track and field hurdling event. The event has been on the Olympic athletics programme since 1900 for men and since 1984 for women. On a standard outdoor track, 400 metres is the length of the inside lane, once a ...

. She is also a women's track assistant coach at her alma mater,

Rice University William Marsh Rice University (Rice University) is a Private university, private research university in Houston, Houston, Texas. It is on a 300-acre campus near the Houston Museum District and adjacent to the Texas Medical Center. Rice is ranke ...

. Her greatest achievement in athletics is the

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 ...

she won in the 400 metres hurdles at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel 1998)'', officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games ''(Malay: Sukan Komanwel ke-16)'', was a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. This edition is marked by several unprecedent ...

Kuala Lumpur , anthem = '' Maju dan Sejahtera'' , image_map = , map_caption = , pushpin_map = Malaysia#Southeast Asia#Asia , pushpin_map_caption = , coordinates = , su ...

in a games record time. Blackett was awarded the Barbados Service Star and the 1998 National Sports Personality of the Year award for Barbados for this achievement.Andrea Blackett
Harrison College, 1998 Blackett represented Barbados in six IAAF World Championships (1997–2007). She qualified for the final four times and in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shootin ...

finished fourth. She competed in the

2000 Sydney Olympics The 2000 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXVII Olympiad and also known as Sydney 2000 (Dharug: ''Gadigal 2000''), the Millennium Olympic Games or the Games of the New Millennium, was an international multi-sport event held from 1 ...

, qualifying for the semi-final of the 400m hurdles and she competed in the 400m hurdles at the

2004 Athens 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), ...

. Andrea even competed in Edmonton in 2001 and also in Paris in 2003 where she earned sixth place. She has also represented her country at the

World Indoor Athletics Championships The World Athletics Indoor Championships are a biennial indoor track and field competition served as the global championship for that version of the sport. Organised by the World Athletics, the competition was inaugurated as the ''World Indoor G ...

. She also has five medals from the Central American and Caribbean Championships and three from 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 ...

. Blackett has a personal best of 53.36 in the 400m hurdles, in

Seville Seville (; es, Sevilla, ) is the capital and largest city of the Spanish autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the River Guadalquivir, in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula ...

which is also a national record for Barbados. She set the Barbados 100m hurdles record of 13.39 in 2003 in Liège.

Career

Andrea's 4x400 meter time in the Indoor National Track and Field events led the Rice Owls to their first ever national title win in 1997. Her highest individual finish came in a second-place effort in the

in 1997. Blackett graduated from

in 1997 with a bachelor's degree in managerial studies and Spanish, and she also holds a master's degree from the

University of Houston The University of Houston (UH) is a Public university, public research university in Houston, Texas. Founded in 1927, UH is a member of the University of Houston System and the List of universities in Texas by enrollment, university in Texas ...

in hotel management. She also competed in the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002 were held in Manchester, England, from 25 July to 4 August, 2002. The 2002 Games were to be hosted in the United Kingdom to coin ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of Salford to the west. The t ...

but was unable to retain her title. Blackett featured in the 2003 documentary ''Running for God'' which followed her efforts to win at the games alongside fellow hurdlers Deon Hemmings and Natasha Danvers, and how their

Christian faith Christianity is an Abrahamic monotheistic religion based on the life and teachings of Jesus of Nazareth. It is the world's largest and most widespread religion with roughly 2.38 billion followers representing one-third of the global populat ...

influenced their careers. Blackett was also selected in the Bajan team for the

2008 Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and also known as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes from 204 Nati ...

but was ruled out due to injuryRice coach tapped to head Barbados Olympic team
Rice University, 17 July 2008 and retired from international competition. Blackett has now finished her days of running but it hasn't stopped her from coaching for the Rice University's Women's Track Team as well as previously coaching for Barbados in the 2008 Beijing Olympic games.

International competitions

Personal bests

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 ...

- 54.01 s (2006) *

- 53.36 s (1999) *

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten Hurdling, hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first h ...

- 13.17 s (2000)

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Blackett, Andrea 1976 births Living people Barbadian female hurdlers Barbadian female sprinters World Athletics Championships athletes for Barbados Olympic athletes of Barbados Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Barbados Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Pan American Games silver medalists for Barbados Pan American Games bronze medalists for Barbados Pan American Games medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 1999 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2003 Pan American Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2007 Pan American Games Competitors at the 1998 Central American and Caribbean Games Central American and Caribbean Games silver medalists for Barbados Rice Owls track and field coaches Rice Owls women's track and field athletes People educated at Harrison College (Barbados) University of Houston alumni Athletes from London English sportspeople of Barbadian descent Central American and Caribbean Games medalists in athletics Medalists at the 1999 Pan American Games Medalists at the 2003 Pan American Games Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games