Lee McConnell (born 9 October 1978) is a retired

Scottish Scottish usually refers to something of, from, or related to Scotland, including: *Scottish Gaelic, a Celtic Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family native to Scotland *Scottish English *Scottish national identity, the Scottish ide ...

athlete An athlete (also sportsman or sportswoman) is a person who competes in one or more sports that involve physical strength, speed, or endurance. Athletes may be professionals or amateurs. Most professional athletes have particularly well-devel ...

, who competed 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 ...

and

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 ...

having started her career as a

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er. She is a three-time

Olympian Olympian or Olympians may refer to: Religion * Twelve Olympians, the principal gods and goddesses in ancient Greek religion * Olympian spirits, spirits mentioned in books of ceremonial magic Fiction * ''Percy Jackson & the Olympians'', fiction ...

who represented Great Britain in

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

2008 File:2008 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Lehman Brothers went bankrupt following the Subprime mortgage crisis; Cyclone Nargis killed more than 138,000 in Myanmar; A scene from the opening ceremony of the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing; ...

and

2012 File:2012 Events Collage V3.png, From left, clockwise: The passenger cruise ship Costa Concordia lies capsized after the Costa Concordia disaster; Damage to Casino Pier in Seaside Heights, New Jersey as a result of Hurricane Sandy; People gather ...

. With 12 medals from major championships, McConnell is the third most decorated Scottish track and field athlete of all-time (after Eilidh Doyle with 19 medals and Laura Muir with 13). She was voted Scottish Athlete of the Year in 2002, 2003 and 2007. McConnell is a four-time World Championship bronze medallist in the 4 x 400 metres relay in 2005, 2007, 2009 and 2011, with the 2007 team setting the British record of 3:20.04. Her individual honours include winning a 2002 Commonwealth silver at 400 metres, 2002 European Championship bronze at 400 metres, and 2006 Commonwealth bronze at 400 metres hurdles.

Career

Lee McConnell attended

Holyrood R.C. Secondary School Holyrood Secondary School is a Roman Catholic secondary school in the south-side of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the biggest secondary school in Scotland, with over 2,000 pupils and 150 teaching staff. Holyrood is located near Crosshill railway stat ...

in Glasgow before graduating from

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for post-nominals) is a public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university since 1966, but it dates back to 1909, when L ...

in 2000 with a degree in Sports Science. Originally a

(becoming Scottish champion in 1998, 1999 and 2000), before turning to the 400 m and then the

(winning

Commonwealth A commonwealth is a traditional English term for a political community founded for the common good. Historically, it has been synonymous with "republic". The noun "commonwealth", meaning "public welfare, general good or advantage", dates from the ...

Bronze in a PB time). She was the Scottish

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400 metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slightl ...

champion in 2002, and 2005. She also won the 400 m in 2001, and the 400 m at the AAA Championships in 2002. Internationally, in

2002 File:2002 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The 2002 Winter Olympics are held in Salt Lake City; Queen Elizabeth The Queen Mother and her daughter Princess Margaret, Countess of Snowdon die; East Timor gains East Timor independence, indepe ...

, McConnell won a

bronze medal A bronze medal in sports and other similar areas involving competition is a medal made of bronze awarded to the third-place finisher of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, etc. The outright winner receive ...

at the 2002 European championships in the

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

, then added a Commonwealth Games silver in the

. In

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

at the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

, McConnell came second in both the 400 m and the 4 × 400 m relay. She went to finish fifth in the

final at the 2003 World Championships. Her personal best time over 400 m is 50.82 seconds. After the

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

season, McConnell decided to give up hurdling, as her transition from the flat had not been as successful as she had intended, and she returned to the 400 m flat. She broke the stadium record in the 400 m at the 2008 FBK Games, producing her fastest season opener. At domestic level, McConnell later won the British 400 m title in 2008 and 2010, the British Inter-Counties 200 metres title in 2009, and two more Scottish 200 m titles (outdoor again in 2011 and indoor in 2013). In 2018, McConnell was one of fifteen athletes inducted in to the Scottish Athletics Hall of Fame.

Relays

In addition to winning medals in individual contests, she has been a fairly successful relay runner. McConnell was known for participating in the Great Britain 4 × 400 m relay team at major events. McConnell won bronze medals in the 4 × 400 m relay at the

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

and 2007 World Championships. She ran the first leg in a team with Donna Fraser,

Nicola Sanders Nicola Clare Sanders (born 23 June 1982) is a former British track and field sprinter. She began her career as a 400 metres hurdles specialist before concentrating on the 400 metres from 2006 onwards. Her 400 metres personal best is 49.65 seco ...

and

Christine Ohuruogu Christine Ijeoma Ohuruogu , MBE (born 17 May 1984) is a British former track and field athlete who specialised in the 400 metres, the event for which she is a former Olympic, World and Commonwealth champion. The Olympic champion in 2008, and s ...

in 2005 and ran the third leg in team with Ohuruogu, Marilyn Okoro and Sanders in 2007, which a set a national record. In addition at the World Championships, she ran the first leg for the 4 × 400 m relay teams that finished fifth in

2001 The September 11 attacks against the United States by Al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror, were a defining event of 2001. The United States led a Participants in ...

, sixth in

, and fourth in

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

, also running fourth leg for the team that finished fourth in

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

. McConnell alongside Fraser, Catherine Murphy, and Ohuruogu finished fourth in the 4 × 400 m relay at the

2004 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), ...

, but could inherit bronze medals from this event as American athlete Crystal Cox was later found guilty of doping offences. Cox and not the US team had her medal revoked but that could still change. At the

2012 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 ...

, she ran the second leg as Great Britain finished fifth in the 4 × 400 m relay. She has also accumulated relay medals from the 4 × 400 m event from the Universiade Games (in

), the

European Championships The European Championships is a multi-sport tournament which brings together the existing European Championships of some of the continent's leading sports every four years. The inaugural edition in 2018 was staged by the host cities of Berlin, ...

(in

and

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

) and the

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet courts. Finals Singles Doubles See also * Berlin Open ...

(in

and

). For Scotland, McConnell ran in the 4 × 400 m relay at the Commonwealth Games in

and

(where a national record was set).

Retirement

McConnell missed the 2013 season after becoming pregnant with her first child. She returned to training nine weeks after giving birth to her son with a view to competing at 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 ...

in her hometown of Glasgow – however she announced her immediate retirement from athletics in April 2014.

International competitions

Personal life

McConnell is a rugby union fan, and is supporter of the Glasgow Warriors and the

Scotland national team The Scotland national football team gd, Sgioba Ball-coise Nàiseanta na h-Alba sco, Scotland National Fitbaa Team represents Scotland in men's international football and is controlled by the Scottish Football Association. It competes in the thr ...

References

External links

*
MTC profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:McConnell, Lee 1978 births Living people British female sprinters Scottish female sprinters Scottish female hurdlers British female hurdlers British female high jumpers Scottish female high jumpers Olympic female sprinters Olympic athletes of Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2008 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for Scotland Commonwealth Games medallists in athletics Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2010 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners AAA Championships winners Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Universiade silver medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade Medalists at the 2001 Summer Universiade Alumni of Loughborough University People educated at Holyrood Secondary School Sportspeople from Glasgow Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2006 Commonwealth Games