Deborah Jane Marti (born 14 May 1968) is a former

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 from England, who was born in Switzerland. She represented Great Britain at the

Olympic Games The modern Olympic Games (Olympics; ) are the world's preeminent international Olympic sports, sporting events. They feature summer and winter sports competitions in which thousands of athletes from around the world participate in a Multi-s ...

in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, finishing ninth in the 1992 final. She set her outdoor personal best of 1.94 metres, on 9 June 1996 at a meet in

Tallinn Tallinn is the capital city, capital and List of cities in Estonia, most populous city of Estonia. Situated on a Tallinn Bay, bay in north Estonia, on the shore of the Gulf of Finland of the Baltic Sea, it has a population of (as of 2025) and ...

. On 23 February 1997 in Birmingham, she cleared 1.95 metres to set a British indoor record, which stood for 17 years (1997–2014). She also won bronze medals at the 1983 European Junior Championships and the

1994 Commonwealth Games The 1994 Commonwealth Games ( French: ''XVéme Jeux du Commonwealth'') were held in Victoria, British Columbia, Canada, between 18 and 28 August 1994. Ten types of sports were featured at the Victoria Games: athletics, aquatics, badminton, box ...

Career

Marti was born in

Zofingen Zofingen () is a city in the canton of Aargau in Switzerland. It is the capital of the district of Zofingen. Zofingen is a walled city and home to an ancient monastic settlement. History In ancient times Zofingen was a settlement of the Celtic ...

Aargau Aargau ( ; ), more formally the Canton of Aargau (; ; ; ), is one of the Canton of Switzerland, 26 cantons forming the Switzerland, Swiss Confederation. It is composed of eleven districts and its capital is Aarau. Aargau is one of the most nort ...

, Switzerland and from the age of two, was raised in England. She was a member of Bromley Ladies Athletics Club. A prodigious talent, Marti cleared 1.81 m at the age of fourteen in 1982 before achieving 1.88 m at 15 in 1983 to win a European Junior Championships bronze medal. This still stands as a UK age 15 best. The following year she improved to 1.89 m and was unlucky not to earn selection for the 1984 Olympic Games. Her 1.89 m stood as a UK Under 17 record for 29 years until Morgan Lake cleared 1.90 m in 2013. Marti's career was then slowed by the debilitating illness ME. She withdrew from the 1985 World Indoor Games. In 1986, she finished ninth in the final of the World Junior Championships. From 1985 – 1990, her best result was 1.86 m. Marti returned to top form in 1991, when she improved her -year-old PB to 1.94 during the indoor season, to equal Diana Davies's UK indoor record. She went on to clear 1.91 m to finish a fine fifth in the final at the World Indoor Championships in

Seville Seville ( ; , ) is the capital and largest city of the Spain, Spanish autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia and the province of Seville. It is situated on the lower reaches of the Guadalquivir, River Guadalquivir, ...

. At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, she failed to reach the final, clearing 1.86 m in the qualifying round. In 1992, she competed at her first

in Barcelona, where she achieved an outdoor PB of 1.92 m in the qualifying round before clearing 1.91 m for ninth in the final. She remained the last British woman to reach an Olympic high jump final until Morgan Lake qualified for the 2016 final in Rio. Shortly after the 1992 Games, she improved her outdoor best to 1.93 m. Marti would continue as the UK's most consistent jumper for several years, although she was forced to withdraw from the 1993 World Championships due to injury. In 1994 she cleared 1.91 m to win a bronze medal 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 ...

in Victoria, Canada. In 1996, she achieved her lifetime outdoor best of 1. 94 m. She cleared this height in both Tallinn in June, then again in Birmingham in July, at the British Olympic Trials. At the Atlanta Olympics, she failed to reach the final with a best of 1.85 m, for 19th overall in qualification. Marti reached her peak indoors in 1997, by clearing 1.95 m at the Birmingham indoor Grand Prix, to add one centimetre to the UK indoor record that she held jointly with Diana Davies and Jo Jennings. This height was also equal to the UK outdoor record. The record stood for 17 years, until

Katarina Johnson-Thompson Katarina Mary Johnson-Thompson, (born 9 January 1993) is an English athlete. A multi-eventer, she is primarily known as both a heptathlete and an indoor pentathlete. In heptathlon she is a double world champion, double Commonwealth Games c ...

cleared 1.96 m on 8 February 2014. Also that year she reached the World Indoor Championship final in Paris and competed at the

World Championships A world championship is generally an international competition open to elite competitors from around the world, representing their nations, and winning such an event will be considered the highest or near highest achievement in the sport, game ...

in Athens. After a few low key years, Marti concluded her international career by finishing sixth at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

in Manchester.

National titles

* 4

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 ...

(1991, 1993, 1996, 1997) 2nd (1994, 2002) * 3 UK Championships (1992, 1993, 1997) 2nd (1990, 1991) * 3 AAA Indoor Championships (1991, 1992, 1997) 2nd (1984, 1989, 1993, 1995, 1996, 1998, 1999)

International competitions

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Marti, Debbie 1968 births Living people People from Zofingen British female high jumpers English female high jumpers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1992 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1996 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1994 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Medallists at the 1994 Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen 21st-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics