Diana Clare Davies (

née The birth name is the name of the person given upon their birth. The term may be applied to the surname, the given name or to the entire name. Where births are required to be officially registered, the entire name entered onto a births registe ...

Elliott; born 7 May 1961) is a retired female

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 Great Britain, Her personal best of 1.95 metres set on 26 June 1982, at a meet in

Oslo Oslo ( or ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of 1,064,235 in 2022 ...

, Norway, stood as the UK national record until 2014. She competed at two

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 ...

, reaching the final on both occasions. In

Los Angeles 1984 The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an international multi-sport event held from July 28 to August 12, 1984, in Los Angeles, California, United States. It marked the ...

, she finished in 9th place (1.88 m), while in Seoul 1988, she finished 8th (1.90m).

Biography

As a 17-year-old, Elliott finished second behind Carol Mathers in the high jump event at the 1978 WAAA Championships with a jump of 1.76 metres. Elliott would also be runner-up at the 1980 AAAs Indoors and the 1981 AAAs Outdoors. Her breakthrough year came in 1982 when she broke the UK records, both indoors and outdoors. Indoors she broke Ann-Marie Cording's record of 1.91 m with a clearance of 1.94 to finish fifth at the European Indoor Championships in Milan. She then set a new outdoor mark of 1.95 m in Oslo, to add one centimetre to Louise Miller's previous record. The indoor record would survive for 15 years.

Debbie Marti Deborah Jane Marti (born 14 May 1968) is a former high jumper from England, who was born in Switzerland. She represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Barcelona 1992 and Atlanta 1996, finishing ninth in the 1992 final. She set her out ...

(1991) and Jo Jennings (1993) both equalled it, before Marti cleared 1.95 in 1997. This remained the record 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 in 2014. The outdoor record stood for 32 years. It was equalled by both Susan Jones (2001) and

Jessica Ennis Dame Jessica Ennis-Hill (née Ennis; born 28 January 1986) is a British retired athlete who specialised in the heptathlon and 100 metres hurdles. As a competitor in heptathlon, she is the 2012 Olympic champion, a three-time world champion (2 ...

(2007), before Isobel Pooley broke it with a clearance of 1.96 m in August 2014. 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 ...

in the high jump event, at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...

Brisbane Brisbane ( ; ) is the List of Australian capital cities, capital and largest city of the States and territories of Australia, state of Queensland and the list of cities in Australia by population, third-most populous city in Australia, with a ...

, Australia. Elliott finally became the British high jump champion after winning the British

WAAA Championships The WAAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Women's Amateur Athletic Association (WAAA) in England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event for women during its lifetime. Since 1880, the Amateur Athl ...

title at the 1984 WAAA Championships. In the same year, she also won the AAAs Indoor and

UK Championship The UK Championship is a professional ranking snooker tournament. It is one of snooker's prestigious Triple Crown events, along with the World Championship and the Masters. It is usually held at the Barbican in York, England. Ronnie O'Sull ...

. At her first

in Los Angeles, she cleared 1.90 in the qualification round, before finishing equal ninth in the final with 1.88. In 1986, now Diana Davies, she again won all three national titles and finished fourth at two major Championships. At the European Indoor Championships in Madrid she was fourth with 1.90 m. Then representing

at the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

Edinburgh Edinburgh is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

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 ...

, in one of the highest quality Commonwealth high jump competitions, she again found 1.90 m not enough for a medal, losing out on countback to the Northern Irish pair, Sharon McPeake and Janet Boyle. The winner was Australia's Christine Stanton with 1.92 m. At the European Championships in Stuttgart, both McPeake and Boyle failed to reach the final, leaving Davies as the only UK finalist, placing eighth with 1.87 m. In 1987, she finished a fine fifth at the World Indoor Championships in Indianapolis, with 1.91 m. Davies qualified for her second

in 1988. At the games in Seoul, she again reached the final. Having cleared 1.92 m in qualification she cleared 1.90 m for equal eighth. With fellow UK jumper Janet Boyle also reaching the final (12th), 1988 remains the last Olympic high jump final to feature two UK women. Davies is also the last British women to reach two Olympic high jump finals. The only UK finalist since being Debbie Marti in 1992. Davies won her fourth AAAs Outdoor title in 1989, earning selection for

, at the

1990 Commonwealth Games The 1990 Commonwealth Games () were held in Auckland, New Zealand from 24 January – 3 February 1990. It was the 14th Commonwealth Games, and part of New Zealand's 1990 sesquicentennial celebrations. Participants competed in ten sports: at ...

Auckland Auckland ( ; ) is a large metropolitan city in the North Island of New Zealand. It has an urban population of about It is located in the greater Auckland Region, the area governed by Auckland Council, which includes outlying rural areas and ...

New Zealand New Zealand () is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and List of islands of New Zealand, over 600 smaller islands. It is the List of isla ...

, which were held in January. In Auckland she finished ninth, only managing to clear 1.80 m. This would be her last major international competition. After several low key years, Davies won her first national medal in six years at the 1995 AAAs National Championships, finishing second to Lea Haggett on countback, both having cleared 1.85 m. She now works in Woolden Hill primary school in Leicester.

National titles

* 4 Times AAAs National Champion: 1984, 85, 86, 89 (2nd in 1978, 81, 95) * 2 Times AAAs National Indoor Champion: 1984, 86 (2nd in 1980, 82, 87) * 4 Times UK National Champion: 1984, 86, 87, 88 (2nd in 1982)

International competitions

* Results in brackets is the height achieved in qualifying round.

References

Statistics
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Diana (athlete) 1961 births Living people British female high jumpers English female high jumpers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1988 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games athletes for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1990 Commonwealth Games Sportspeople from Cambridgeshire 20th-century English sportswomen