Non Evans (born 20 June 1974) is a Welsh multi-discipline sportswoman and TV personality who has competed internationally in
rugby union
Rugby union football, commonly known simply as rugby union in English-speaking countries and rugby 15/XV in non-English-speaking world, Anglophone Europe, or often just rugby, is a Contact sport#Terminology, close-contact team sport that orig ...
,
rugby sevens
Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
,
touch rugby
Touch rugby refers to games derived from rugby league in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball.
A formal, competitive variety, known as Touch ...
,
judo
is an unarmed gendai budō, modern Japanese martial art, combat sport, Olympic sport (since 1964), and the most prominent form of jacket wrestling competed internationally.『日本大百科全書』電子版【柔道】(CD-ROM version of Encyc ...
,
weightlifting
Weightlifting or weight lifting generally refers to physical exercises and sports in which people lift weights, often in the form of dumbbells, barbells or machines. People engage in weightlifting for a variety of different reasons. These can ...
and
freestyle wrestling
Freestyle wrestling is a style of wrestling. It is one of two styles of wrestling contested in the Olympic Games, along with Greco-Roman wrestling, Greco-Roman. scholastic wrestling, High school wrestling and men's collegiate wrestling in the U ...
.
Evans is notable for being the first person to compete in two separate sports at the same Commonwealth games and for later becoming the first woman to compete in three sports at multiple games. In rugby union, she is the world's all-time leading points scorer and Wales' top try scorer in either women's or men's internationals.
Early life
Evans was brought up in
Pontarddulais
Pontarddulais (), also spelled Pontardulais (), is a town and community in Swansea, Wales. It is northwest of the city centre. It is in the Pontarddulais ward of the City and County of Swansea Council. Pontarddulais adjoins the village of Hend ...
and described herself as "very sporty" despite being "very small". She spent her early years competing as an acrobat with Bynea Acrobatic Club, appearing on UK TV programmes ''
Blue Peter
''Blue Peter'' is a British children's television entertainment programme created by John Hunter Blair. It is the longest-running children's TV show in the world, having been broadcast since October 1958. It was broadcast primarily from BBC ...
'' and ''
Going Live!''. At secondary school, Evans won tennis tournaments every year and took up Judo at the Pontarddulais Judo Club, where she became Welsh Judo champion in her first year as a competitor. Evans would continue to compete at the Welsh Judo Championships every year until she attended university, where she took up rugby.
Judo, weightlifting and wrestling
At 16, Evans became the youngest competitor at the
Commonwealth Judo Championships, going on to win silver medals at the 1992 and 1996 Championships. Evans would also compete 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
Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...
.
The 2002 Commonwealth Judo Championships were held as an official competition in the Commonwealth Games for the first time in twelve years, and Evans was expected to represent Wales in
the Judo event. However that year Evans had also taken up competitive weightlifting, winning that year's Welsh Weightlifting Championship and British Championship. As such Evans also qualified for
the Weightlifting event, becoming the first person to compete in two separate sports at the same Commonwealth Games.
Evans achievement is all the more notable as the two events were held on consecutive days (31 July and 1 August), and her weightlifting qualifying weight was under 63 kg while her judo qualifying weight was 57 kg. Evans has stated that her training for the weightlifting led to weight gain, which would necessitate severe dieting and dehydrating to meet the lower weight for Judo. At the event, Evans weighed in at 56.1 kilos and competed in the Judo event for the rest of the day. Overnight, Evans added nearly five kilos of weight, to get to 62.8 kg at the next morning's weigh in. Evans has since described competing in the two events as "one of the hardest things I’ve had to do" adding that it took her months to recover from the rapid change in weight.
In 2010 Evans took up yet another sport in Wrestling, winning the Welsh Wrestling Championship at her first attempt and taking the silver medal at the British Wrestling Championships in the under-59 kg class. Later that year, Evans was named as captain of the
Welsh Wrestling team for the
2010 Commonwealth Games
The 2010 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XIX Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Delhi 2010, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth that was held in Delhi, India, from 3 to 14 October 201 ...
in
Delhi
Delhi, officially the National Capital Territory (NCT) of Delhi, is a city and a union territory of India containing New Delhi, the capital of India. Straddling the Yamuna river, but spread chiefly to the west, or beyond its Bank (geography ...
, on the same day she was also named as part of the
Wales rugby squad for the
2010 World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
. At Delhi, Evans became the first female athlete in the history of the Commonwealth games to compete in three separate sports.
Rugby
Evans made her debut for
Wales
Wales ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...
against
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 1996, going on to play 87 times for her country, competing in the
1998
1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''.
Events January
* January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for Lunar water, frozen water, in soil i ...
and
2010
The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...
World Cups. In the
2009 Women's Six Nations Championship, Evans played a pivotal role in Wales' first win against England, kicking a last minute penalty to win the match by a single point.
Although her preferred position was fullback, Evans wide range of skills saw her play in positions across the back line, she has also represented Wales in
touch rugby
Touch rugby refers to games derived from rugby league in which players do not tackle each other but instead touch their opponents using their hands on any part of the body, clothing, or the ball.
A formal, competitive variety, known as Touch ...
and
rugby sevens
Rugby sevens (commonly known simply as sevens, and originally seven-a-side rugby) is a variant of rugby union in which teams are made up of seven players playing seven-minute halves, instead of the usual 15 players playing 40-minute halves. R ...
. Evans became both a prolific try scorer and goal kicker for the national team, scoring 64 International tries and kicking a further 169 points. As such Evans holds the record for most international tries for Wales in either men's and women's rugby, as well as being the world's leading points scorer and leading try scorer in Women's international rugby.
Media work
On 18 October 1997, Evans competed in the sixth series of ''
Gladiators'' but was defeated in the heats. Also in 1997, Evans became the first female reporter and presenter for men’s rugby union on the
Welsh language
Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...
television channel
S4C
S4C (, ''Sianel Pedwar Cymru'', meaning ''Channel Four Wales'') is a Welsh language free-to-air public broadcast television channel. Launched on 1 November 1982, it was the first television channel to be aimed specifically at a Welsh-speakin ...
. Evans is also a commentator for the BBC, commentating for the broadcaster on both the weightlifting and wrestling events at the
2012 London Olympics
The 2012 Summer Olympics, officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012, were an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...
.
Personal life
As well as her media work, Evans has worked as a medical representative for a pharmaceutical company and as a fitness and health coach. She is a
Welsh speaker. Evans was appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire
The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...
(MBE) in the
2011 Birthday Honours
The Birthday Honours 2011 for the Commonwealth realms were announced on 11 June 2011 in the United Kingdom,United Kingdom: New Zealand,[Llanelli RFC
Llanelli Rugby Football Club () is a Welsh rugby union club founded on 30 March 1872.
The club's historic home ground was Stradey Park in Llanelli, but they moved in 2008 to the new Parc y Scarlets in adjacent Pemberton. The club song is " ...]
rugby union flanker
Mark Perego. In 2020, Evans
came out
Coming out of the closet, often shortened to coming out, is a metaphor used to describe LGBTQ people's self-disclosure of their sexual orientation, romantic orientation, or gender identity.
This is often framed and debated as a privacy issue, ...
as gay in a post on Twitter.
References
External links
*
*[https://web.archive.org/web/20100831044922/http://www.rwcwomens.com/home/teams/team=2962/player=38094/index.html 2010 Women's RWC Profile]
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Non
1974 births
Bards of the Gorsedd
British female sport wrestlers
Commonwealth Games competitors for Wales
Judoka at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
British LGBTQ rugby union players
Welsh lesbian sportswomen
Living people
Members of the Order of the British Empire
Rugby union players from Swansea
Sportspeople from Swansea
Weightlifters at the 2002 Commonwealth Games
Wales women's international rugby union players
Wales rugby union captains
Welsh female judoka
Welsh female rugby union players
Welsh female weightlifters
Wrestlers at the 2010 Commonwealth Games