Joan Jeanetta Baptiste (born 12 October 1959) is a former British sprinter who competed mainly in the

100 metres The 100 metres, or 100-meter dash, is a sprint race in track and field competitions. The shortest common outdoor running distance, the dash is one of the most popular and prestigious events in the sport of athletics. It has been contested at ...

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

4 x 100 metres relay 4 (four) is a number, numeral and digit. It is the natural number following 3 and preceding 5. It is a square number, the smallest semiprime and composite number, and is considered unlucky in many East Asian cultures. Evolution of the Hi ...

. She won a silver medal at the inaugural

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 1983 in the 4 × 100 m relay and competed in the 200 metres at the

1984 Olympic Games The 1984 Olympics may refer to: *The 1984 Winter Olympics, which were held in Sarajevo, Yugoslavia *The 1984 Summer Olympics The 1984 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXIII Olympiad and commonly known as Los Angeles 1984) were an i ...

in Los Angeles.

Biography

Baptiste was born in

St. Vincent Saint Vincent may refer to: People Saints * Vincent of Saragossa (died 304), a.k.a. Vincent the Deacon, deacon and martyr * Saint Vincenca, 3rd century Roman martyress, whose relics are in Blato, Croatia * Vincent, Orontius, and Victor (died 305 ...

and was a member of the Wolverhampton & Bilston Athletics Club. She emerged in 1983, winning the AAAs indoor 200 m title, before breaking the UK indoor record with 23.37 secs to win a silver medal at the

European Indoor Championships The European Indoor Championships was a men's tennis tournament played in Berlin, Germany. The event was played as part of the ATP Tour in 1990 and 1991. It was played on indoor carpet court A carpet court is a type of tennis court. The Intern ...

in Budapest, the winner was

Marita Koch Marita Koch (later Meier-Koch; born 18 February 1957) is a German former Sprint (running), sprint track and field athlete. During her career she set 16 List of world records in athletics, world records in outdoor sprints as well as 14 world re ...

. Later that year, she competed at the

in Helsinki, where she won a silver medal in the 4 x 100 metres relay, running the first leg. Her teammates were Kathy Cook, Bev Callender and Shirley Thomas. They ran 42.71 secs, finishing behind the East Germans and just ahead of the fast finishing Jamaicans. She also reached the semi-finals of the 200 metres. Baptiste reached the 200 metres semi-finals at the

1984 Los Angeles Olympics 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 ...

, running a lifetime best of 22.86 secs. She improved her own UK indoor record to 23.33 secs in Stuttgart in 1985. She went on to finish fourth in the 200 metres final at the 1985 European Indoor Championships. Her 23.33 would remain the national indoor record for nine years, until Katharine Merry ran 23.00 in 1994, in Glasgow. In 1986, Baptiste 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 ...

at the won a

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 Edinburgh and won the gold medal in the 4 × 100 m relay, along with Paula Dunn, Kathy Cook and Heather Oakes. Baptiste became the British 200 metres 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

1987 WAAA Championships The 1987 WAAA Championships sponsored by the Trustee Savings Bank, were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Alexander Stadium, Birmingham, from 24 to 25 July 1987. The Champio ...

and competed that year at the

in Rome as a member of the sprint relay squad.

Personal bests

*100 metres – 11.32 Zurich SWI 24 August 1983 *200 metres – 22.86 Los Angeles USA 9 August 1984 *200 metres (indoors) 23.33 23 February 1985 (former UK indoor record)

References

*
European Indoor Championships
1959 births Living people British female sprinters English female sprinters Saint Vincent and the Grenadines emigrants to the United Kingdom Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1986 Commonwealth Games Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Black British sportswomen World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain World Athletics Championships medalists Olympic female sprinters Medallists at the 1986 Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics {{England-sprint-athletics-bio-stub