Kelly Sotherton, English sprinter and long jumper
Kelly Jade Sotherton (born 13 November 1976) is a British former heptathlete. In the heptathlon she was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer Olympics and, following the disqualification of two other athletes, also 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 (again, initially finishing 5th but upgraded after various subsequent doping disqualifications). As such she is one of only five women to win multiple medals in Olympic heptathlon. She also won a bronze at the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. As the scale of her accomplishments at global level became clear in hindsight, Sotherton was increasingly recognised as part of the line of world class British pentathletes/heptathletes that included Mary Rand, Mary Peters, Judy Simpson, Denise Lewis, Jessica Ennis-Hill and Katarina Johnson-Thompson, her multiple global medals between 2004 and 2008 bridging the gap between the Olympic triumphs of Lewis and Ennis-Hill.
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 she returned to heptathlon training.