Sarah Jane Bainbridge (born 7 October 1982 in

Fleetwood Fleetwood is a coastal town in the Borough of Wyre in Lancashire, England, at the northwest corner of the Fylde. It had a population of 25,939 at the 2011 census. Fleetwood acquired its modern character in the 1830s, when the principal lando ...

Lancashire Lancashire ( , ; abbreviated Lancs) is the name of a Historic counties of England, historic county, Ceremonial County, ceremonial county, and non-metropolitan county in North West England. The boundaries of these three areas differ significa ...

) is an English

taekwondo ''Taekwondo'', ''Tae Kwon Do'' or ''Taekwon-Do'' (; ko, 태권도/跆拳道 ) is a Korean form of martial arts involving punching and kicking techniques, with emphasis on head-height kicks, spinning jump kicks, and fast kicking techniques. ...

practitioner, who competed in the women's welterweight category. She won a gold medal in the 68-kg division at the 1999 European Junior Championships in

Nicosia, Cyprus Nicosia ( ; el, Λευκωσία, Lefkosía ; tr, Lefkoşa ; hy, Նիկոսիա, Romanization of Armenian, romanized: ''Nikosia''; Cypriot Arabic: Nikusiya) is the largest city, Capital city, capital, and seat of government of Cyprus. It is ...

, retrieved a bronze at the

2003 Summer Universiade The 2003 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXII Summer Universiade, took place in Daegu, South Korea. Emblem * The alphabet letter "U" and five stars, which is FISU's emblem, make up the basis of the emblem for the Daegu Universiade. * It sy ...

Daegu, South Korea Daegu (, , literally 'large hill', 대구광역시), formerly spelled Taegu and officially known as the Daegu Metropolitan City, is a city in South Korea. It is the third-largest urban agglomeration in South Korea after Seoul and Busan; it is ...

, and had been thereby selected to

Team GB Team GB is the brand name used since 1999 by the British Olympic Association (BOA) for their Great Britain at the Olympics, British Olympic team. The brand was developed after Great Britain at the 1996 Summer Olympics, the nation's poor perfor ...

's four-person taekwondo squad for the 2004 Summer Olympics in

Athens Athens ( ; el, Αθήνα, Athína ; grc, Ἀθῆναι, Athênai (pl.) ) is both the capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. With a population close to four million, it is also the seventh List ...

. Starting her career at age 16, Bainbridge trained full-time for Fleetwood Taekwondo Club in her native

, under her personal coach, master, and father Alan Bainbridge. Bainbridge spurred public attention on her senior debut at the

, where she shared bronze medals with the Netherlands' Luttikhuis Oude in the women's 67-kg division. At the 2004 Summer Olympics in

, Bainbridge qualified for

's taekwondo squad in the women's welterweight class (67 kg). Earlier in the process, she finished second behind Croatia's

Sandra Šarić Sandra Šarić (born 8 May 1984 in Senj) is a Croatian taekwondo athlete. Representing Croatia at the 2003 World Taekwondo Championships in Garmisch Partenkirchen, Germany, she won the silver medal in the welterweight (-67 kg) ...

from the European Olympic Qualifying Tournament in

Baku, Azerbaijan Baku (, ; az, Bakı ) is the capital and largest city of Azerbaijan, as well as the largest city on the Caspian Sea and of the Caucasus region. Baku is located below sea level, which makes it the lowest lying national capital in the world an ...

to assure a spot on the British Olympic team. Bainbridge produced a cautious fight against the Netherlands' Charmie Sobers during her opening bout, resulting in a defeat by just a single-point deficit with a narrow record of 6–7. When Sobers lost the quarterfinal match to her Filipino opponent

Mary Antoinette Rivero Mary Antoinette Rivero (born February 26, 1988), also known as Toni Rivero, is a taekwondo practitioner from the Philippines. She represented the country in the 2004 and 2008 Summer Olympics. Rivero was born in Makati. See also * Philippines at ...

, Bainbridge denied her chance to compete for Great Britain's first ever Olympic medal in the repechage.

References

External links

* 1982 births Living people English female taekwondo practitioners Olympic taekwondo practitioners for Great Britain Taekwondo practitioners at the 2004 Summer Olympics People from Fleetwood Universiade medalists in taekwondo Universiade bronze medalists for Great Britain Medalists at the 2003 Summer Universiade {{UK-taekwondo-bio-stub