Shirley Elaine Strong (married name Holloway, born 18 November 1958) is a British former athlete who competed mainly in the

100 metres hurdles The 100 metres hurdles, or 100-meter hurdles, is a track and field event run mainly by women (the male counterpart is the 110 metres hurdles). For the race, ten hurdles of a height of are placed along a straight course of . The first hurdle is ...

. In this event, she won a silver medal 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 ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles, often referred to by its initials L.A., is the List of municipalities in California, most populous city in the U.S. state of California, and the commercial, Financial District, Los Angeles, financial, and Culture of Los Angeles, ...

, a gold medal at the

1982 Commonwealth Games The 1982 Commonwealth Games were held in Brisbane, Australia, from 30 September to 9 October 1982. The Opening Ceremony was held at the QEII Stadium (named after Elizabeth II), in the Brisbane suburb of Nathan. The QEII Stadium was also the ...

, and a silver medal at the

1978 Commonwealth Games The 1978 Commonwealth Games were held in Edmonton, Alberta, Canada, from 3 to 12 August, two years after the 1976 Summer Olympics was held in Montreal, Quebec. They were boycotted by Nigeria, in protest at New Zealand's sporting contacts with a ...

. She also held the British record from 1980 to 1988.

Personal life

Strong was born in Cuddington, Cheshire and remained in the village throughout her career. She has two daughters and lives in

Holmes Chapel Holmes Chapel is a village and civil parish in Cheshire, England, north of Crewe and south of Manchester; Swettenham Meadows Nature Reserve lies east of the village and Goostrey lies to the north. The population of the village was 6,700 a ...

, Cheshire. She studied at Northwich Grammar School For Girls, now known as The County High School, Leftwich.

Career

She trained with Stretford athletic club. She was twice English and twice British Schoolgirls 100 hurdles champion 1974 and 1975. Strong went on with her national career in 1977 with second placings in the 100 metres hurdles at both the 1977 WAAA Championships and the UK Athletics Championships, achieving second place again in 1978 at both championships. Strong's first major championship was representing

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

, in

Edmonton Edmonton is the capital city of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of Alberta. It is situated on the North Saskatchewan River and is the centre of the Edmonton Metropolitan Region, which is surrounded by Central Alberta ...

, Canada, where she got the silver medal. Strong became the British 100 metres hurdles champion after winning the British WAAA Championships title at the 1979 WAAA Championships and retained the title in

1980 Events January * January 4 – U.S. President Jimmy Carter proclaims a United States grain embargo against the Soviet Union, grain embargo against the USSR with the support of the European Commission. * January 6 – Global Positioning Sys ...

1981 Events January * January 1 ** Greece enters the European Economic Community, predecessor of the European Union. ** Palau becomes a self-governing territory. * January 6 – A funeral service is held in West Germany for Nazi Grand Admiral ...

1982 Events January * January 1 – In Malaysia and Singapore, clocks are adjusted to the same time zone, UTC+8 (GMT+8.00). * January 13 – Air Florida Flight 90 crashes shortly after takeoff into the 14th Street Bridge in Washington, D.C. ...

1983 1983 saw both the official beginning of the Internet and the first mobile cellular telephone call. Events January * January 1 – The migration of the ARPANET to TCP/IP is officially completed (this is considered to be the beginning of the ...

, in a national record time of 12.95 sec and

1984 Events January * January 1 – The Bornean Sultanate of Brunei gains full independence from the United Kingdom, having become a British protectorate in 1888. * January 7 – Brunei becomes the sixth member of the Association of Southeas ...

. Strong represented

at the

in Brisbane Australia, by getting the gold medal. Shirley won the Northern Ireland 100 hurdles championship in 1983. Strong achieved a creditable fifth place at the 1983 World Championships with a wind-assisted time of 12.78 seconds, Great Britain's highest placing in the event until Tiffany Porter finished in fourth place in 2011. With the eastern European countries absent through a boycott at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Strong went into the 100 metres hurdles event as a favourite. However, in the final Benita Fitzgerald-Brown of the United States ran the race of her life to take gold in 12.84 seconds, 0.04 seconds faster than the Briton. In the years following Los Angeles, Strong was frequently troubled by problems with her

achilles tendon The Achilles tendon or heel cord, also known as the calcaneal tendon, is a tendon at the back of the lower leg, and is the thickest in the human body. It serves to attach the plantaris, gastrocnemius (calf) and soleus muscles to the calcane ...

and failed to qualify for the

1986 Commonwealth Games The 1986 Commonwealth Games were held in Edinburgh, Scotland, between 24 July and 2 August 1986. This was the second Commonwealth Games to be held in Edinburgh. Thirty two of the eligible fifty nine countries (largely African, Asian and Caribbe ...

. She earned selection for the European Championships later that year, but withdrew from the team. After competing in the 1987 indoor season she retired from athletics.

Popularity

At the height of her career Strong was among the most popular athletes in the UK among a public who regarded her as "one of us", and even admitted to having an occasional cigarette after a race.

Personal bests

*60 metres hurdles – 8.11sec Cosford, UK 11 March 1984 *100 metres hurdles – 12.87sec Zurich, SUI 24 August 1983 – British record 1983–88 Note: Strong twice ran 12.78sec, first in Brisbane (8 October 1982 ) with a following wind of +4.5, then in Helsinki (13 August 1983) with a following wind of +2.4. Any performance achieved with a following wind of more than +2.0 m/s is regarded as wind-assisted and does not count for record purposes.

Achievements

* 6 Times AAAs (of England) National 100 m Hurdles Champion 1979, 80, 81, 82, 83, 84 ( 2nd in 77, 78 ) * 3 Times UK National 100 m Hurdles Champion 1979, 80, 83 ( 2nd in 77, 78 ) * 7 Times North England 100 m Hurdles champion 1976, 1978-81, 83 and 86. Also one 100m in 1981.)

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Strong, Shirley 1958 births Living people People from Cuddington, Eddisbury People from Holmes Chapel English female hurdlers British female hurdlers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Olympic silver medallists for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 1980 Summer Olympics Athletes (track and field) at the 1984 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games gold medallists for England Athletes (track and field) at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 1982 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain Sportspeople from Cheshire Medalists at the 1984 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games silver medallists for England Olympic silver medalists in athletics (track and field) Medallists at the 1978 Commonwealth Games Medallists at the 1982 Commonwealth Games 20th-century English sportswomen Commonwealth Games gold medallists in athletics Commonwealth Games silver medallists in athletics