Kelly Sotherton

Kelly Sotherton

Personal information
Full name	Kelly Jade Sotherton
Nationality	British
Born	(1976-11-13) 13 November 1976 (age 40) Newport, Isle of Wight
Height	181 cm (5 ft 11¼ in)
Sport
Country	Great Britain
Sport	Athletics
Event(s)	Heptathlon Long Jump 400m
Achievements and titles
World finals	3rd (2007)
Regional finals	7th (2006)
Olympic finals	3rd (2004)
Medal record Representing  Great Britain Women's athletics Olympic Games 2004 Athens Heptathlon 2008 Beijing 4x400 m relay World Championships 2007 Osaka Heptathlon World Indoor Championships 2008 Valencia Pentathlon European Indoor Championships 2005 Madrid Pentathlon 2007 Birmingham Pentathlon 2011 Paris 4x400 m relay Representing  England Commonwealth Games 2006 Melbourne Heptathlon Representing  Isle of Wight Island Games 1997 Jersey 100 m 1997 Jersey 100 m Hurdles 1997 Jersey Long Jump 1997 Jersey High Jump 1997 Jersey 4x100m Relay 1997 Jersey 4x400m Relay 1999 Gotland 100 m 1999 Gotland Long Jump 1999 Gotland 200 m 1999 Gotland 4x100m Relay 1999 Gotland 4x400m Relay

Kelly Jade Sotherton (born 13 November 1976) is an English former heptathlete. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and was fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics, as well as being part of the bronze medal winning team in the Women's 4x400m relay at the 2008 Summer Olympics (initially finishing 5th but upgraded after various subsequent doping disqualifications). She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In November 2010, she announced her decision to retire from the heptathlon, due to foot and back injuries. After considering switching to cycling, she then chose instead to focus on the 400 m. Sotherton's funding from UK Athletics was cut in 2011 but in 2011 she returned to heptathlon training.

Sotherton was born in Newport, Isle of Wight on 13 November 1976. She began her athletics career in the sports day at Caversham House Primary School in Ryde, Isle of Wight. She was subsequently educated at Bishop Lovett Middle School, Ryde High School and Brunel University.

As a teenager, Sotherton played netball for the Isle of Wight, and won two English Schools’ championships in the heptathlon. She moved to the Midlands in 1998, to become a member of Birchfield Harriers athletics club. She made her senior British team debut in 2002.

She gained international recognition in 2004 when she unexpectedly won a bronze medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens behind Carolina Klüft (gold) and Austra Skujytė (silver), scoring 6424 points and finishing ahead of defending Olympic champion Lewis, who dropped out due to injury.

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