Chrissie Wellington, English triathlete
Christine Ann Wellington (born 18 February 1977) is an English former professional triathlete and four-time Ironman Triathlon World Champion. She holds, or held, all three world and championship records relating to ironman-distance triathlon races: firstly, the overall world record, secondly, the Ironman World Championship course record (from 2009 until Mirinda Carfrae lowered it in 2013), and thirdly, the official world record for all Ironman-branded triathlon races over the full Ironman distance.
She won the World Championship in three consecutive years (2007–2009), but could not start the 2010 World Championship race because of illness, then – while suffering from injuries so severe that her former coach Brett Sutton said she should "not even be on the start line" – regained the title in 2011. She is the first British athlete to hold the Ironman Triathlon World Championship, and was undefeated in all thirteen of her races over the ironman distance. She is the only triathlete, male or female, to have won the World Championship less than a year after turning professional, an achievement described by the British Triathlon Federation as "a remarkable feat, deemed to be a near impossible task for any athlete racing as a rookie at their first Ironman World Championships."She lowered the world record on all three occasions (2009–2011) she raced Challenge Roth (formerly Quelle Challenge Roth) at Roth in Bavaria, Germany. Her current record of 8 hours 18 minutes 13 seconds is more than 32 minutes faster than the record which stood from 1994 to 2008, when Yvonne van Vlerken broke it by just over 5 minutes. Following her 2010 world record, her former coach Brett Sutton described Wellington as "a person of true international sporting excellence that is overshadowed by no one in any other sport."Paula Newby-Fraser's course record at the Ironman World Championships had stood for 17 years until Wellington broke it in 2009. At the time of her retirement, Wellington held the four fastest times ever recorded by a woman over the ironman distance, and had the greatest number of sub-9 hour times – nine, five more than Newby-Fraser's previous record. In addition to the Ironman titles, she was also the 2006 International Triathlon Union (ITU) Age Group World Champion and the 2008 ITU long-distance World Champion.
Before becoming a professional triathlete, Wellington worked for the British government as an adviser on international development and, for Rural Reconstruction Nepal, on development projects in Nepal. International development remains one of her passions. She is actively involved in supporting charities relating to international development and supporting and encouraging women and girls to take up sport.
She became, after meeting the parents of Jon Blais at her first world championship, an ambassador for the Blazeman Foundation, performing a "Blazeman roll" in his memory at the finish line of all her triathlon races since then. She campaigns for full equality of women in prize money, sponsorship, and media reporting of sport, and equal opportunities, notably in cycling, for women to be able to compete on the same terms, and over the same race distances, as men.
1977Feb, 18
Chrissie Wellington
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Events on 1977
- 23Mar
Watergate scandal
The first of The Nixon Interviews (12 will be recorded over four weeks) are videotaped with British journalist David Frost interviewing former United States President Richard Nixon about the Watergate scandal and the Nixon tapes. - 5Jul
Zulfikar Ali Bhutto
Military coup in Pakistan: Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, the first elected Prime Minister of Pakistan, is overthrown. - 4Aug
Jimmy Carter
U.S. President Jimmy Carter signs legislation creating the United States Department of Energy. - 15Aug
Search for extraterrestrial intelligence
The Big Ear, a radio telescope operated by Ohio State University as part of the SETI project, receives a radio signal from deep space; the event is named the "Wow! signal" from the notation made by a volunteer on the project. - 21Nov
God Save the Queen
Minister of Internal Affairs Allan Highet announces that the national anthems of New Zealand shall be the traditional anthem "God Save the Queen" and "God Defend New Zealand".