Emily Diamond (born 11 June 1991 in

Bristol Bristol () is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, the most populous city in the region. Built around the River Avon, Bristol, River Avon, it is bordered by t ...

) is a British

track and field Track and field (or athletics in British English) is a sport that includes Competition#Sports, athletic contests based on running, jumping, and throwing skills. The name used in North America is derived from where the sport takes place, a ru ...

athlete, who competes in the

200 metres The 200 metres, or 200-meter dash, is a sprint running event. On an outdoor 400-metre racetrack, the race begins on the curve and ends on the home straight, so a combination of techniques is needed to successfully run the race. A slight ...

and

400 metres The 400 metres, or 400-meter dash, is a sprint event in track and field competitions. It has been featured in the athletics programme at the Summer Olympics since 1896 for men and since 1964 for women. On a standard outdoor running track, it is ...

. Diamond came to prominence in her breakout season of 2016 when, following her first win at the British Championships over the 400 metres distance, she collected a gold medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the

2016 European Athletics Championships The 2016 European Athletics Championships was held in Amsterdam, Netherlands, between 6 and 10 July 2016. It was the first time the Netherlands hosted the event. Due to 2016 being an Olympic year, there was no racewalking and the marathon competi ...

as part of the Great Britain team, followed by a bronze in the same discipline at the

2016 Summer Olympics The 2016 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Rio 2016, were an international multi-sport event held from 5 to 21 August 2016 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with preliminary events i ...

Career

Diamond took up athletics whilst attending

Bristol Grammar School Bristol Grammar School (BGS) is a 4–18 Mixed-sex education, mixed, Private schools in the United Kingdom, private day school in Bristol, England. It was founded in 1532 by Royal Charter for the teaching of 'good manners and literature', endowe ...

, where she notably beat Nicola Phillips in the 1500 m at Sports Day. While there she won the junior girls' race at the Bristol Schools' Cross Country Championships. In 2009, representing Avon, she won the English Schools' senior girls' 200 metres title. Both her mother and grandmother had previously competed for England in long jump. Diamond was selected for Great Britain team at the 2011 World University Games held in

Shenzhen Shenzhen is a prefecture-level city in the province of Guangdong, China. A Special economic zones of China, special economic zone, it is located on the east bank of the Pearl River (China), Pearl River estuary on the central coast of Guangdong ...

Guangdong ) means "wide" or "vast", and has been associated with the region since the creation of Guang Prefecture in AD 226. The name "''Guang''" ultimately came from Guangxin ( zh, labels=no, first=t, t= , s=广信), an outpost established in Han dynasty ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

. Competing in the 200 metres she progressed to the final and finished eighth. Diamond also ran a leg of the

4 × 400 metres relay The 4 × 400 metres relay or long relay is an athletics track and field, track event in which teams consist of four runners who each complete 400 metres or one lap, totaling 1600 meters. It is traditionally the final event of ...

winning a bronze medal as part of a team with

Kelly Massey Kelly Massey (born 11 January 1985) is a British track and field athlete who specialises in the 400 metres. She competed for England in the women's 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2014 Commonwealth Games where she won a bronze medal, and for Great ...

Charlotte Best Charlotte Elise Best (born 16 January 1994) is an Australian actress and model. She is best known for her role in the show ''Home and Away'' as the young girl in the Campbell family, Annie Campbell. Biography Best grew up in the suburb of P ...

and Meghan Beesley. At the

2010 World Junior Championships in Athletics 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

held in

Moncton Moncton (; ) is the most populous city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of New Brunswick. Situated in the Petitcodiac River Valley, Moncton lies at the geographic centre of the The Maritimes, Maritime Provinces. Th ...

New Brunswick New Brunswick is a Provinces and Territories of Canada, province of Canada, bordering Quebec to the north, Nova Scotia to the east, the Gulf of Saint Lawrence to the northeast, the Bay of Fundy to the southeast, and the U.S. state of Maine to ...

, Canada, Diamond made the final of the 200 metres and finished in sixth position with a time of 23.62 seconds. At the 2012 UK Olympic Trials in Birmingham Diamond ran a time of 53.36 seconds to finish fourth in the final of the 400 metres. This result lead to her being selected as a reserve for the women's 4 × 400 metres relay squad at the

Great Britain at the 2012 Summer Olympics Great Britain and Northern Ireland, represented by the British Olympic Association (BOA), competed at the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, United Kingdom, from 27 July to 12 August 2012 as the host nation and the team of selected athletes was o ...

in London. Her selection came despite Diamond having only run the distance competitively six times in outdoor competition. Diamond was part of the English 4 x 400 metres team that won bronze at the

2014 Commonwealth Games The 2014 Commonwealth Games (), officially known as the XX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Glasgow 2014 (; ), were an international multi-sport event celebrated in the tradition of the Commonwealth Games as governed by the Commonwea ...

, but only ran in the heats. In 2016, she won a gold medal as part of the Great Britain 4 x 400 m team at the European Championships, her first senior gold medal. She won a bronze medal in the

at the

in Rio. In the individual event, she reached the semifinals. She was part of the Great Britain squad that won silver at the 2017 World Championships. Diamond is a member of the Bristol and West Athletic Club and also represents

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 ...

where she is coached by former international 400 metres runner Jared Deacon.

References

External links

* * * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Diamond, Emily 1991 births Living people Athletes from Bristol English female sprinters British female sprinters Olympic female sprinters Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain Olympic bronze medalists in athletics (track and field) Athletes (track and field) at the 2016 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 2020 Summer Olympics Medalists at the 2016 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games bronze medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2018 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 2014 Commonwealth Games Universiade medalists in athletics (track and field) FISU World University Games bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2011 Summer Universiade World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists European Athletics Championships winners European Athletics Championships medalists British Athletics Championships winners Team Bath track and field athletes People educated at Bristol Grammar School Alumni of Loughborough University 21st-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games bronze medallists in athletics