Benjamin Arthur Challenger (born 7 March 1978) is a retired English

high jump The high jump is a track and field event in which competitors must jump unaided over a horizontal bar placed at measured heights without dislodging it. In its modern, most-practiced format, a bar is placed between two standards with a crash mat f ...

er. His personal best jump of 2.30 metres was achieved when he won the

1999 Summer Universiade The 1999 Summer Universiade, also known as the XX Summer Universiade, took place in Palma, Majorca, Palma de Mallorca, Spain from 3 July to 13 July. Venues * Estadi Son Moix — athletics, football (finals), ceremonies * Palau Municipal d'Espor ...

. His career highlight is a

silver medal A silver medal, in sports and other similar areas involving competition, is a medal made of, or plated with, silver awarded to the second-place finisher, or runner-up, of contests or competitions such as the Olympic Games, Commonwealth Games, ...

at the 1998

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 ...

. Born in

Loughborough Loughborough ( ) is a market town in the Charnwood (borough), Charnwood Borough of Leicestershire, England; it is the administrative centre of Charnwood Borough Council. At the United Kingdom 2021 census, the town's built-up area had a popula ...

Leicestershire Leicestershire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It is bordered by Derbyshire, Nottinghamshire and Lincolnshire to the north, Rutland to the east, Northamptonshire to the south-east, Warw ...

, Challenger attended Shepshed High School and later he studied

sports science Sports science is a discipline that studies how the healthy human body works during exercise, and how sports and physical activity promote health and performance from cellular to whole body perspectives. The study of sports science traditionally i ...

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

(a course he later abandoned in favour of full-time high jump training). As a youth he considered a career in basketball, and toured the US with the

Leicester Riders Leicester Riders are a British professional basketball team and the oldest club in the British Basketball League (BBL). Riders compete in the Super League Basketball (SLB). Established in 1967, the club have played in various locations around L ...

, leading to offers from

NBA The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

talent scouts acting for US universities, which he turned down. He is the son of the

Showaddywaddy Showaddywaddy are a rock and roll group from Leicester, England. They specialise in revivals of hit songs from the 1950s and early 1960s, while also issuing original material. They have spent 209 weeks on the UK Singles Chart, and have had 10 ...

drummer,

Romeo Challenger Romeo Alexander Challenger (born 19 May 1950) is an Antiguan-born English musician. He has been the drummer for the rock band Showaddywaddy since 1973 and seminal progressive rock band Black Widow. Biography Challenger was born 19 May 1950 ...

, and the brother of singer Tamzin Challenger. Challenger is married to recruitment consultant and fitness instructor Lucy. Together they run Studio Challenger in Berkshire, a pilates school.

Competition record

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Challenger, Ben 1978 births Living people Alumni of Loughborough University Athletes (track and field) at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2000 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England English male high jumpers British male high jumpers English people of Antigua and Barbuda descent Sportspeople of Antigua and Barbuda descent Medalists at the 1999 Summer Universiade Olympic athletes for Great Britain Sportspeople from Loughborough FISU World University Games gold medalists for Great Britain Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 1998 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics