Goldie Sayers

Goldie Sayers

Sayers setting a new UK javelin record at the Crystal Palace Grand Prix, 2012
Personal information
Birth name	Katherine Dinah Sayers
Born	(1982-07-16) 16 July 1982 (age 42)[1] Newmarket, Suffolk, England[1]
Height	5 ft 7 in (1.70 m)[1]
Weight	11 st (70 kg)[1]
Sport
Country	United Kingdom
Sport	Athletics
Event	Javelin
Medal record Women's athletics Representing  Great Britain Olympic Games 2008 Beijing Javelin European Cup Winter Throwing 2008 Split Javelin 2007 Yalta Javelin 2012 Bar Javelin European Junior Championships 2001 Grosseto Javelin
Updated on 11 August 2012

Katherine Dinah "Goldie" Sayers (born 16 July 1982) is a British former javelin thrower, who won a bronze medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She was born in Newmarket, Suffolk, England. On 20 May 2007, Sayers set a new British record in the javelin at 65.05 m (213 ft 5 in), thus becoming the first British woman to throw over 65 metres since javelins were redesigned in 1999. Sayers set the record when competing for her university, Loughborough, at the Loughborough International match. She cemented this achievement at the Norwich Union Glasgow Grand Prix on 3 June 2007 where she beat a top-class international field in rainy conditions with a throw of 63.59 m. Defeated rivals included European champion and Olympic silver medallist Steffi Nerius and world champion Barbora Špotáková.

Sayers was educated at Fairstead House School, Newmarket, and at The King's School, Ely.^[2] She played hockey, netball and tennis at county level, and was an under 11 national table tennis champion.^[3]

Sayers first came to prominence when setting national junior records and winning national titles, in 2001. Sayers also served as the captain of Great Britain's women's under 20 team, this season. The following season, Sayers finished in sixth place at the Commonwealth Games.

From 2003 to 2007, Sayers won five consecutive national titles but had limited success at major championships, failing to make the final at her first Olympics in 2004 and finishing twelfth at both the 2005 World Championships and 2006 European Championships but she did finish fifth at the 2006 Commonwealth Games.^[4]

The early 2007 season boded well for Sayers, setting two UK records and defeating high-class rivals, such as Germany's European champion Steffi Nerius and the Czech Republic's Barbora Špotáková, who went on to win the world title that season, at a championship where Sayers finished 18th in qualifying, with her worst result of the season: 57.23 m.

On 15 March 2008 Sayers won the European Cup of Winter Throwing title in Split, Croatia, with a throw of 63.65 m.

Sayers originally finished fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, China, setting a new British record of 65.75 m. However in 2016 the Russian third placed athlete, Mariya Abakumova, tested positive for banned substances after a re-analysis of her sample, meaning that Sayers would be upgraded to the bronze medal position. She eventually received her Olympic bronze medal on 20 July 2019 at the London Anniversary Games, 11 years later.^[5]

She improved her British record to 66.17m at the London Grand Prix Diamond League meeting in London in 2012.^[6]

On 4 July 2012, Sayers carried the Olympic Torch through Bourne in Lincolnshire.^[7]

On 7 August 2012, Sayers competed in the women's javelin at the 2012 Summer Olympics, but had sustained an injury to her right arm and was unable to feel her throwing hand. She threw three attempts but failed to throw the qualification distance and so stepped over the line and was knocked out of the competition without recording a mark.^[8][9]

Sayers subsequently had elbow surgery which involved a ligament being removed from her right wrist and inserted in her left arm. She lost her funding from UK Athletics at the end of 2014, but philanthropist Barrie Wells agreed to fund Sayers' training in exchange for helping heptathlete Katarina Johnson-Thompson improve her javelin throwing.^[10]

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing the  United Kingdom and  England
1998	World Junior Championships	Annecy, France	22nd (q)	45.54 m (old spec.)
1999	World Youth Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	5th	47.86 m
2000	World Junior Championships	Santiago, Chile	6th	51.52 m
2001	European Junior Championships	Grosseto, Italy	2nd	55.40 m
2002	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, United Kingdom	6th	51.32 m
2003	European U23 Championships	Bydgoszcz, Poland	11th	53.90 m
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	20th (q)	59.11 m
2005	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	12th	54.44 m
	Universiade	İzmir, Turkey	4th	56.25 m
2006	European Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	12th	54.70 m
	Commonwealth Games	Melbourne, Australia	5th	57.29 m
2007	World Championships	Osaka, Japan	18th (q)	57.23 m
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	3rd	65.75 m
2009	World Championships	Berlin, Germany	13th (q)	58.98 m
2011	World Championships	Daegu, South Korea	10th	58.18 m
2012	European Championships	Helsinki, Finland	4th	63.01 m
	Olympic Games	London, United Kingdom	–	NM
2014	Commonwealth Games	Glasgow, United Kingdom	7th	57.68 m
	European Championships	Zürich, Switzerland	8th	58.33 m
2015	World Championships	Beijing, China	26th (q)	58.28 m
2016	European Championships	Amsterdam, Netherlands	26th (q)	53.56 m

Sayers' father, Pete Sayers, who died in 2005, was a bluegrass musician and the first Englishman to appear at the Grand Ole Opry.^[11]

• Goldie Sayers at World Athletics
• Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Goldie Sayers". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 20 August 2011.