Allison Curbishley (born 3 June 1976) is a former British

athlete An athlete is most commonly a person who competes in one or more sports involving physical strength, speed, power, or endurance. Sometimes, the word "athlete" is used to refer specifically to sport of athletics competitors, i.e. including track ...

from

Stockton-on-Tees Stockton-on-Tees is a market town in County Durham, England, with a population of 84,815 at the 2021 UK census. It gives its name to and is the largest settlement in the wider Borough of Stockton-on-Tees. It is part of Teesside and the Tees Val ...

but who represented Scotland and specialised in the 400 metres. She competed at two Olympic Games.

Biography

Curbishley became involved in a play scheme in the summer holiday when she was ten years old and this sparked Curbishley's interest in sport. Although athletics was the sport she eventually chose she also reached county standard in

netball Netball is a ball sport played on a rectangular court by two teams of seven players. The primary objective is to shoot a ball through the defender's goal ring while preventing the opposing team from shooting through their own. It is one of a ...

and

field hockey Field hockey (or simply referred to as hockey in some countries where ice hockey is not popular) is a team sport structured in standard hockey format, in which each team plays with 11 players in total, made up of 10 field players and a goalk ...

. At the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta, Curbishly 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 4 x 400 metres relay event. Curbishley finished third behind Phylis Smith in the 400 metres event at the 1996 AAA Championships. In 1998, she became the British 400 metres champion after winning the British

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 ...

title at the 1998 AAA Championships. Shortly after becoming AA Champion Curbishley represented

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

at the

1998 Commonwealth Games The 1998 Commonwealth Games ( Malay: ), officially known as the XVI Commonwealth Games (Malay: ), were a multi-sport event held in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. The 1998 games were the first held in Asia and the last Commonwealth Games of the 20th cen ...

Kuala Lumpur Kuala Lumpur (KL), officially the Federal Territory of Kuala Lumpur, is the capital city and a Federal Territories of Malaysia, federal territory of Malaysia. It is the largest city in the country, covering an area of with a census population ...

, Malaysia At the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, Curbishley represented

in both the 400 metres and relay events. She graduated from the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

with a degree in Sport and Exercise Sciences. During her career her knee was operated on six times, and the injury finally led to her retirement in 2003. She is now working in broadcasting for the

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

and her partner is fellow BBC commentator

Steve Cram Stephen Cram, (born 14 October 1960) is a British retired track and field athlete. Along with fellow Britons Sebastian Coe and Steve Ovett, he was one of the world's dominant middle-distance runners during the 1980s. Nicknamed "The Jarrow Arro ...

with whom she lives in Northumberland.

International competitions

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Curbishley, Allison 1976 births Living people English people of Scottish descent Sportspeople from Stockton-on-Tees Athletes from Newcastle upon Tyne Scottish female sprinters British female sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain European Athletics Championships medalists Alumni of the University of Birmingham Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games gold medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 1997 Summer Universiade Olympic female sprinters Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics