Myra Nimmo (born 5 January 1954) is a Scottish athlete and academic, who currently works at the

University of Birmingham The University of Birmingham (informally Birmingham University) is a Public university, public research university in Birmingham, England. It received its royal charter in 1900 as a successor to Queen's College, Birmingham (founded in 1825 as ...

. As an athlete, she competed at the

1974 British Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games () were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The event was officially named "the friendly games". T ...

and

1976 Summer Olympics The 1976 Summer Olympics (), officially known as the Games of the XXI Olympiad () and officially branded as Montreal 1976 (), were an international multi-sport event held from July 17 to August 1, 1976, in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. Montreal ...

in the

long jump The long jump is a track and field event in which athletes combine speed, strength and agility in an attempt to leap as far as possible from a takeoff point. Along with the triple jump, the two events that measure jumping for distance as a gr ...

, and was the Scottish long jump record holder from 1973 until 2012. From 2016 until 2021, she was the Chair of

England Athletics England Athletics is the governing body for the sport of athletics in England. It was set up as a limited company in 2005, taking over the role of the Amateur Athletic Association of England. England Athletics works closely with UK Athletics, the ...

Athletics career

Nimmo began her career in the

sprint hurdles Hurdling is the act of jumping over an obstacle at a high speed or in a sprint. In the early 19th century, hurdlers ran at and jumped over each hurdle (sometimes known as 'burgles'), landing on both feet and checking their forward motion. Today ...

, and also ran in the relay team. She took up

during the winter of 1972–73. In June 1973, Nimmo broke the Scottish national long jump record with a jump of 6.43m during a meeting at

Meadowbank Stadium Meadowbank Stadium (officially the Meadowbank Sports Centre) is a multi-purpose sports facility located in the Meadowbank, Edinburgh, Meadowbank area of Edinburgh, Scotland. Built on the site of the earlier New Meadowbank and Old Meadowbank spo ...

. Her record became the longest standing Scottish national athletics record, until it was broken in 2012 by the unrelated Jade Nimmo. Nimmo became the British long 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

1973 WAAA Championships The 1973 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, from 20 to 21 July 1973. The 200 metres hurdles was replaced ...

. Nimmo competed in the

1974 Commonwealth Games The 1974 British Commonwealth Games () were held in Christchurch, New Zealand, from 24 January to 2 February 1974. The bid vote was held in Edinburgh at the 1970 British Commonwealth Games. The event was officially named "the friendly games". T ...

Christchurch Christchurch (; ) is the largest city in the South Island and the List of cities in New Zealand, second-largest city by urban area population in New Zealand. Christchurch has an urban population of , and a metropolitan population of over hal ...

, New Zealand, where she came fourth in the long jump. Later in the year, she won a long jump event in

Cwmbran Cwmbran ( ; , also in use as an alternative spelling in English) is a town in the county borough of Torfaen in South Wales. Lying within the Historic counties of Wales, historic boundaries of Monmouthshire (historic), Monmouthshire, Cwmbran was ...

, Wales. Nimmo was the only Scottish women to win an event at the meeting. In 1975, she regained the WAAA long jump title at the

1975 WAAA Championships The 1975 WAAA Championships were the national track and field championships for women in the United Kingdom. The event was held at the Crystal Palace National Sports Centre, London, from 18 to 19 July 1975. The 3,500 metres walk was increased ...

and won another event in

Coatbridge Coatbridge (, ) is a town in North Lanarkshire, Scotland, about east of Glasgow city centre, set in the central Lowlands. Along with neighbouring town Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, Airdrie, Coatbridge forms the area known as the Monklands (popula ...

, Scotland, in what became her last appearance for Scotland. Nimmo competed at the

Montreal Montreal is the List of towns in Quebec, largest city in the Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Quebec, the List of the largest municipalities in Canada by population, second-largest in Canada, and the List of North American cit ...

, Canada, finishing 24th with a best jump of 5.94m.

Academic career

Nimmo has a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

exercise physiology Exercise physiology is the physiology of physical exercise. It is one of the allied health professions, and involves the study of the acute responses and chronic adaptations to exercise. Exercise physiologists are the highest qualified exercise ...

from the

University of Glasgow School of Veterinary Medicine The School of Biodiversity, One Health & Veterinary Medicine at the University of Glasgow is one of nine veterinary schools in the United Kingdom, and offers undergraduate and postgraduate qualifications in Veterinary Medicine. It was establish ...

. In 1993, Nimmo became an exercise physiologist at the

University of Strathclyde The University of Strathclyde () is a public research university located in Glasgow, Scotland. Founded in 1796 as the Andersonian Institute, it is Glasgow's second-oldest university, having received its royal charter in 1964 as the first techn ...

. In 2007, she was appointed Professor of Exercise Physiology at

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 ...

's School of Sport and Exercise Sciences. She later became the Pro-Vice-Chancellor and Head of College of Life and Environmental Sciences at the University of Birmingham. In 2016, Nimmo was appointed the Chair of England Athletics. In January 2021, Nimmo announced that she would not be standing for re-election, but would stay Chair of England Athletics until a successor is found. On 1 September 2021, Nimmo was replaced by Gary Shaughnessy in the role.

References

External links

Sports Reference
{{DEFAULTSORT:Nimmo, Myra 1954 births Living people Athletes from Edinburgh Scottish female long jumpers British female long jumpers Commonwealth Games athletes for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 1974 British Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1976 Summer Olympics Alumni of the University of Glasgow Scottish women academics Academics of Loughborough University Academics of the University of Birmingham Olympic athletes for Great Britain Academics of the University of Strathclyde 20th-century Scottish sportswomen