Simone Lucy Laidlow (née Gandy, born 28 July 1965) is a female English former 400 metres hurdler. She represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

in the women's 400 metres hurdles at the

1988 Seoul Olympics The 1988 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIV Olympiad () and officially branded as Seoul 1988 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 17 September to 2 October 1988 in Seoul, South Korea. 159 nations were repres ...

. She finished second at the UK Championships three times (

1985 The year 1985 was designated as the International Youth Year by the United Nations. Events January * January 1 ** The Internet's Domain Name System is created. ** Greenland withdraws from the European Economic Community as a result of a n ...

, 1986 and 1988). Her twin sister, Dawn Gandy, is also a former international athlete.

Career

Born in

Southampton Southampton is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and unitary authority in Hampshire, England. It is located approximately southwest of London, west of Portsmouth, and southeast of Salisbury. Southampton had a population of 253, ...

, Simone Gandy finished second at the UK Championships in 1985 and 1986, and third in 1984 and 1987. Her best performance in these years was 57.56 secs at the England v Romania international in Bucharest on 14 June 1986. She represented

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

at the

Commonwealth Games The Commonwealth Games is a quadrennial international multi-sport event among athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations, which consists mostly, but not exclusively, of territories of the former British Empire. The event was first held in 1930 ...

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, Scotland, on 26 July 1986, where she was eliminated in the heats with 60.31. In 1988, now competing as Simone Laidlow, she finished second behind Elaine McLaughlin at the UK Championships in 57.66. Two months later she finished third behind Sally Gunnell and McLaughlin at the

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

/Olympic trials, earning Olympic selection in a lifetime best of 57.00, just ahead of Wendy Cearns in fourth with 57.01. Her 57.00 would stand as the Hounslow AC club record until broken by Nicola Sanders in 2005. At the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, she was eliminated in the heats running 59.28.

International competitions

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Laidlow, Simone 1965 births Living people Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics British female hurdlers English female hurdlers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes from Southampton English twins Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games athletes for England 20th-century English sportswomen