Elizabeth Clegg, (born 24 March 1990) is a Scottish Paralympic sprinter who has represented both

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

and

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It ...

at international events. She represented Great Britain in the T12 100m and 200m at the

2008 Summer Paralympics The 2008 Summer Paralympic Games (), the 13th Summer Paralympic Games, took place in Beijing, China from September 6 to 17, 2008. As with the 2008 Summer Olympics, equestrian events were held in Hong Kong and sailing events in Qingdao. It was f ...

, winning a silver medal in the T12 100m race. She won Gold in

Rio Rio or Río is the Portuguese, Spanish, Italian, and Maltese word for "river". When spoken on its own, the word often means Rio de Janeiro, a major city in Brazil. Rio or Río may also refer to: Geography Brazil * Rio de Janeiro * Rio do Sul, a ...

at the 2016 Paralympic Games in 100m T11 where she broke the world record and T11 200m, beating the previous Paralympic record in the process, thus making her a double Paralympic champion.

Career history

Clegg has a deteriorating eye condition known as Stargardt's Macular Dystrophy disease giving her only slight peripheral vision in her left eye – she is registered blind. Clegg runs with the aid of guide runner Chris Clarke. She took up athletics aged 9, joining Macclesfield Harriers AC. She originally tried middle distance running and cross country before starting sprinting. In 2006, she competed at the IPC World Championships, winning a silver medal in the T12 200 metres. This was followed by an appearance at the 2008 Summer Olympics, where she won a silver medal in the 100 metres. From 2006 until 2010 her guide runner was Lincoln Asquith. In January 2011, she competed in the IPC World Championships. Whilst there she took a bronze in the 200m. Clegg is a Paralympic silver medallist and current World Champion in the T12 100m and 200m sprints. She was one of the major success stories from the 2011 IPC World Championships in New Zealand and IBSA World Championships in Turkey. In June 2012, Clegg won the 100m and 200m at the IPC Athletics European Championships. Clegg won silver at the

London Paralympics The 2012 Summer Paralympics, branded as the London 2012 Paralympic Games, were an international multi-sport parasports event held from 29 August to 9 September 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. They were the 14th Summer Paralympic Ga ...

on 2 September 2012 in the T12 100m. Clegg and guide Mikail Huggins broke the European record in the final. In October 2012, Clegg won "Para Athlete of the Year" at the

Scottish Athletics Scottish Athletics, stylised as scottishathletics, is the governing body for the sport of athletics in Scotland. Established as a limited company on 1 April 2001, it succeeded the Scottish Athletics Federation (SAF) and is a member of the Commonw ...

awards and was presented with her award by fellow GB Paralympian David Weir. She won the award again in October 2013. In 2013, Clegg won double silver at the IPC World Championships in Lyon clocking 12.23 and 25.31 over 100m and 200m respectively. Clegg is sponsored by the property marketing business ESPC where she participated in work experience in 2008 during her time at The

Royal Blind School The Royal Blind School is a specialist day and boarding school in Edinburgh, Scotland that was established in 1793 and run by the charity, Royal Blind. The school caters for pupils aged 3 to 19 who are blind or partially sighted, and has fac ...

. Clegg has two brothers who have also competed at the Paralympics: James, who competed in the pool in the S12 category at London 2012, and

Stephen Stephen or Steven is a common English first name. It is particularly significant to Christians, as it belonged to Saint Stephen ( grc-gre, Στέφανος ), an early disciple and deacon who, according to the Book of Acts, was stoned to death; ...

, who also swam in the same class at

Rio 2016 ) , 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 ...

and

Tokyo 2020 The , officially the and also known as , was an international multi-sport event held from 23 July to 8 August 2021 in Tokyo, Japan, with some preliminary events that began on 21 July. Tokyo was selected as the host city during the ...

. Clegg won the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games ( gd, Geamannan a' Cho-fhlaitheis 2014), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014, ( sco, Glesca 2014 or Glesga 2014; gd, Glaschu 2014), was an international multi-sport ev ...

T11/T12 100m with a run of 12.20 seconds, a world-leading time for the year. Due to illness, she was unable to defend her European titles in Swansea shortly after the Commonwealth games. She split with guide runner Mikhail Huggins in 2015. Her new guide runner is Chris Clarke. She was also made to withdraw from the

2015 IPC Athletics World Championships The 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships were a Paralympic track and field meet organized by the World Para Athletics subcommittee of the International Paralympic Committee. The event was the 7th edition of what is now known as the World Para ...

after just one race due to an ankle injury and this also meant that she lost funding from British Athletics. In 2016, she was reclassified as a T11 athlete due to her deteriorating eye condition, requiring her to wear a blindfold while racing. Alongside guide Chris Clarke she won the T11 100m title and 200m title at the 2016 Paralympics. Clegg was late addition to the British team for the postponed

2020 Summer Paralympics The , branded as the Tokyo 2020 Paralympic Games, was an international multi-sport parasports event held from 24 August to 5 September 2021 in Tokyo, Japan. They were the 16th Summer Paralympic Games as organized by the International Paraly ...

in Tokyo on 21 July 2021. The other additions were Jonnie Peacock,

Kadeena Cox Kadeena Cox (born 10 March 1991) is a parasport athlete competing in T38 para-athletics sprint events and C4 para-cycling and British television presenter. She was part of the 2015 IPC Athletics World Championships and the 2016 UCI Para-c ...

and David Weir. She is trained by Joe McDonnell. In June 2022 she appeared as guest presenter on an episode of ''

The Gadget Show ''The Gadget Show'' (currently known as ''The Gadget Show: Better Tech, Better Life'') is a British television series which focuses on consumer technology. The show, which is broadcast on Channel 5, is currently presented by Ortis Deley, Geo ...

'' while

Georgie Barrat Georgie Barrat is a British tech journalist and television presenter, best known as a presenter on ''The Gadget Show''. Early life Barrat graduated from King's College London with a degree in English Literature. She later gained a diploma in ...

was on maternity leave.

Honours

Clegg was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the

2017 New Year Honours The 2017 New Year Honours are appointments by some of the 16 Commonwealth realms to various orders and honours to recognise and reward good works by citizens of those countries. The New Year Honours were awarded as part of the New Year celebrati ...

list for services to athletics and charity. Clegg has been awarded ''

'' Athlete of the Year a record seven times (in 2006, 2008, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016). She has also been awarded the ''Scottish Disability Sport'' Athlete of the Year for

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), competi ...

(the Findlay Calder Trophy) a record six times (in 2007, 2009, 2012, 2013, 2014, and 2016). She was also voted ''SDS'' Athletes’ Athlete of the Year (the Gordon Brown Trophy) for

parasports Parasports are sports played by people with a disability, including physical and intellectual disabilities. Some parasports are forms of adapted physical activities from existing able-bodied sports, while others have been specifically created for ...

by her peers in 2012.

Personal life

In October 2018, Clegg announced she was expecting her first child with fiancé Dan Powell in March 2019. They were engaged in October 2017. She has had physical injuries and has been affected by

mental health Mental health encompasses emotional, psychological, and social well-being, influencing cognition, perception, and behavior. It likewise determines how an individual handles Stress (biology), stress, interpersonal relationships, and decision-maki ...

issues. Her guide dog, a black retriever/Labrador cross, is named Hatti. In April 2019 Clegg gave birth to a son, Edward, via emergency C-Section In September 2019 it was announced she would be the first blind contestant to star in the reality TV series ''

Dancing on Ice ''Dancing on Ice'' is a British television series presented by Phillip Schofield alongside Holly Willoughby from 2006 to 2011, who then returned in 2018, and Christine Bleakley from 2012 to 2014. The series features celebrities and their prof ...

''. She appeared in the show's 12th series in 2020 with partner

Mark Hanretty Mark Hanretty (born 21 March 1985) is a Scottish former competitive ice dancer who represented the United Kingdom with Christina Chitwood. They are two-time (2008, 2010) British medalists and competed at the 2009 European Championships, plac ...

, coming in third place.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Clegg, Libby Living people 1990 births Scottish female sprinters Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Paralympic athletes of Great Britain Paralympic gold medalists for Great Britain Paralympic silver medalists for Great Britain People from Bollington Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Medalists at the 2008 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2012 Summer Paralympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Sportspeople from Cheshire Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Paralympics Scottish Paralympic competitors Members of the Order of the British Empire Paralympic gold medalists in athletics (track and field) Medalists at the World Para Athletics Championships Medalists at the World Para Athletics European Championships Visually impaired sprinters Paralympic sprinters