Catrina Elizabeth Gulliver (born 30 November 1969) is an English professional

darts Darts or dart-throwing is a competitive sport in which two or more players bare-handedly throw small sharp-pointed missiles known as darts at a round target known as a dartboard. Points can be scored by hitting specific marked areas of the bo ...

player. She is the 10-time Women's World Professional Darts Champion of the

British Darts Organisation The British Darts Organisation (BDO) was a darts organisation founded on 7 January 1973 by Olly Croft. Made up of 66 member counties, it oversaw professional, semi-professional and amateur darts competitions in Britain. The BDO was a founder ...

(BDO). Her nickname is Golden Girl and in 2003, she was named as the BBC Midlands Sports Personality of the Year.

Early life

The daughter of publicans, Gulliver was born in Warneford Hospital in

Leamington Spa Royal Leamington Spa, commonly known as Leamington Spa or simply Leamington (), is a spa town and civil parish in Warwickshire, England. Originally a small village called Leamington Priors, it grew into a spa town in the 18th century following ...

, and was brought up in the small town of

Southam Southam () is a market town and civil parish in the Stratford-on-Avon district of Warwickshire, England. Southam is situated on the River Stowe (called 'The Brook' by many locals), which flows from Napton-on-the-Hill and joins Warwickshire's ...

Warwickshire Warwickshire (; abbreviated Warks) is a county in the West Midlands region of England. The county town is Warwick, and the largest town is Nuneaton. The county is famous for being the birthplace of William Shakespeare at Stratford-upon-Avo ...

. She trained as a

carpenter Carpentry is a skilled trade and a craft in which the primary work performed is the cutting, shaping and installation of building materials during the construction of buildings, ships, timber bridges, concrete formwork, etc. Carpenters t ...

and joiner, and later taught carpentry and joinery at Mid-Warwickshire College,

Darts career

From the introduction of the BDO Women's World Championship in 2001, Gulliver remained undefeated in the competition until her defeat in the 2008 Championship by

Anastasia Dobromyslova Anastasia Petrovna Dobromyslova-Martin (russian: Анастаси́я Петро́вна Добромы́слова; born 26 September 1984) is a professional darts player. She is a three-time Women's World Professional Darts Champion of the B ...

. During this undefeated run Gulliver beat Francis Hoenselaar of the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

to win the title on five occasions. Gulliver has the top 3 highest winning 3 dart averages in the Women's World Championship, all of which are higher than 90. During the 2008 tournament Trina stated on many occasions that she was not happy with the prize money and the game length compared to the men's competition. In 2008 the women's champion only received £6,000, whereas the men's champion wins £95,000 and the male competition is first to 7 sets whereas the women's is first to 2. Despite this she didn't enter the inaugural (and thus so far only) PDC Women's World Championship in 2010, that offered higher prize money than the BDO version. Gulliver was beaten in the 2009 World Championship Final by close friend Hoenselaar. In 2010 Gulliver defeated Hoenselaar,

Deta Hedman Deta Hedman (born 14 November 1959) is an English darts player who plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) events. Biography Hedman was born in Jamaica in 1959. Her parents emigrated to the United Kingdom in the early 1960s, leaving Hedman and he ...

and

Rhian Edwards Rhian O'Sullivan (née Edwards; 20 January 1981) is a Welsh female professional darts player who plays in events of the World Darts Federation (WDF). Darts career O'Sullivan was a quarter finalist in the 2009 Women's World Masters. She qualifie ...

all 2-0 to become World Champion for the first time since 2007. In 2011 Gulliver defeated Wendy Weinstadtler, Irene Armstrong and Rhian Edwards all 2-0 to successfully defend the Women's World Championship. Gulliver has been sponsored by the leading Global Darts Brand

Winmau Winmau, pronounced "win more", is a Welsh manufacturer of dartboards, other darts equipment and title sponsor of the oldest darts tournament still running, the Winmau World Masters. Founded in 1945, Winmau was acquired by rival dartboard manufac ...

for over 10 Years, and in 2003 was named as the

BBC Midlands BBC Midlands may refer to: *BBC East Midlands, the BBC English Region covering Derbyshire, Leicestershire, Nottinghamshire and Rutland, headquartered in Nottingham *BBC West Midlands BBC Midlands (known as the Midland Region from 1927 until c. 1 ...

'' Sports Personality of the Year.'' She was appointed

Member of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(MBE) in the 2013 Birthday Honours for services to darts and to charitable fundraising.

Personal life

Gulliver married Paul Gulliver in 1994, after nine years together, and they lived in

, but divorced in 2005 after eleven years of marriage. After the break up of her marriage, Gulliver became a secret

alcoholic Alcoholism is, broadly, any drinking of alcohol that results in significant mental or physical health problems. Because there is disagreement on the definition of the word ''alcoholism'', it is not a recognized diagnostic entity. Predomina ...

and used to drink four bottles of wine a night. She has spoken about her alcoholism and stated that, "I was lucky to survive". Gulliver came out after her divorce, although she kept it a secret from her family because she felt that she was going to "lose my sponsors, friends and whether my family would understand". She then lived in

Cheddar Cheddar most often refers to either: *Cheddar cheese *Cheddar, Somerset, the village after which Cheddar cheese is named Cheddar may also refer to: Places * Cheddar, Ontario, Canada * Cheddar Yeo, a river which flows through Cheddar Gorge and t ...

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until 2017 with her England ladies' darts colleague Sue Gulliver. They signed a registered partnership in July 2010. As of 19 September 2022, her website stated she is "Married to Nicole van Gils". Gulliver's mother Muriel died on 5 January 2012, two days before the start of the BDO World Darts Championship. Trina still took part in the competition, at the request of her mother before she died.

Autobiography

2008 saw the publication of her autobiography, ''Golden Girl: The Autobiography of the Greatest Ever Ladies' Darts Player'', which chronicles her ongoing rivalry with ladies' darts superstar and former Olympian

Crissy Manley Crissy is an American fashion doll with a feature to adjust the length of its hair. Crissy was created in the Ideal Toy Corporation's prototype department in 1968. History and concept The creative idea and realization of a doll that “grows” ...

, wife of PDC player

Peter Manley Peter David Manley (born 7 March 1962) is an English former professional darts player who played in Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events from July 1996 until 2017. He won one major title, the Las Vegas Desert Classic, in 2003, and twic ...

World Championship results

BDO

* 2001: Winner (beat Mandy Solomons 2–1) * 2002: Winner (beat Francis Hoenselaar 2–1) * 2003: Winner (beat

Anne Kirk Anne Kirk (born 6 April 1951) is a Scottish former professional darts player. She was nicknamed "Captain Kirk". Career Kirk won the 2001 Women's World Masters, beating American Marilyn Popp in the final. She then reached the semi final of the ...

2–0) * 2004: Winner (beat Francis Hoenselaar 2–0) * 2005: Winner (beat Francis Hoenselaar 2–0) * 2006: Winner (beat Francis Hoenselaar 2–0) * 2007: Winner (beat Francis Hoenselaar 2–1) * 2008: Runner-up (lost to

0-2) * 2009: Runner-up (lost to Francis Hoenselaar 1–2) * 2010: Winner (beat

2–0) * 2011: Winner (beat Rhian Edwards 2–0) * 2012: Semi-finals (lost to Anastasia Dobromyslova 0–2) * 2013: Semi-finals (lost to Anastasia Dobromyslova 1–2) * 2014: First round (lost to Tamara Schuur 0–2) * 2015: Quarter-finals (lost to

Lisa Ashton Lisa Ashton (born 27 August 1970) is an English professional darts player who currently plays in World Darts Federation (WDF) and Professional Darts Corporation (PDC) events. She is a four-time BDO World Darts Women's Champion and has won over ...

0-2) * 2016: Winner (beat

3-2) * 2017: Quarter-finals (lost to Aileen de Graaf 0-2) * 2018: Semi-finals (lost to Anastasia Dobromyslova 0-2) * 2019: Quarter-finals (lost to Lorraine Winstanley 0-2)

WSDT

* 2022: Second round (lost to Robert Thornton 0–3)

References

Books

External links

Official Website

Profile and stats on Darts Database
{{DEFAULTSORT:Gulliver, Trina 1969 births Living people English carpenters English darts players Members of the Order of the British Empire Sportspeople from Leamington Spa English LGBT sportspeople Women carpenters BDO women's world darts champions Bisexual sportspeople LGBT darts players