Ashia Hansen
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| Nationality | British | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Born |
5 December 1971 Evansville, Indiana, US |
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| Sport | Track and field | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| Club | Birchfield Harriers | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Medal record
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Ashia Hansen, MBE (born 5 December 1971) is a retired British triple jumper who competed internationally from 1994 to 2008. Prior to her retirement, Hansen represented Great Britain (and England) on the international stage at a senior level since 1994, competing at the Olympic and Commonwealth Games, as well as the World and European Championships and the World and European Cups.
Although born in the United States, Hansen was adopted when she was 3 months old by a Ghanian father who worked for the United Nations and his Caucasian English wife. They moved to Ghana before settling down in London when she was eight. She was often the only black child at her East London school and later spoke of the racist sentiment and teasing she experienced. She discovered a talent for running and was introduced to athletics by a teacher. Although she competed in her first international at age 17, she remained ambivalent about turning professional and only gave up her day job seven years later to fully commit herself.
Hansen trained at the Birchfield Harriers Athletics Club in Birmingham, along with other successful British athletes such as Denise Lewis, Kelly Sotherton, Mark Lewis-Francis and Katharine Merry. She was trained by Commonwealth Games medallist Aston Moore.
At the 1998 European Indoor Championships in Valencia, Spain, Hansen won the gold medal with a world record jump of 15.16m. This record lasted for 6 years. She is also the British record holder for the outdoor event with a jump of 15.15m in 1997.
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Wikipedia