Shirley Catherine Addison (née Webb) (born 28 September 1981) is an English born former

hammer throw The hammer throw (HT for short) is one of the four throwing events in regular outdoor track-and-field competitions, along with the discus throw, shot put and Javelin throw, javelin. The hammer used in this sport is not like any of the tools a ...

er who represented Scotland. She performed in the ''

Gladiators A gladiator ( , ) was an armed combatant who entertained audiences in the Roman Republic and Roman Empire in violent confrontations with other gladiators, wild animals, and condemned criminals. Some gladiators were volunteers who risked their ...

'' series as Battleaxe.

Biography

She was born in

Whitley Bay Whitley Bay is a seaside town in the North Tyneside borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It was formerly governed as part of Northumberland and has been part of Tyne and Wear since 1974. It is part of the wider Tyneside built-up area, being around ...

Tyne & Wear Tyne and Wear () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England. It borders Northumberland to the north and County Durham to the south, and the largest settlement is the city of Newcastle upon Tyne. The county is ...

, England, and is the daughter of

Andrew Webb Andrew is the English form of the given name, common in many countries. The word is derived from the , ''Andreas'', itself related to ''aner/andros'', "man" (as opposed to "woman"), thus meaning "manly" and, as consequence, "brave", "strong", "c ...

, a Scottish international hurdler who competed at the Commonwealth Games. She attended

The King's School, Tynemouth Kings Priory School is a coeducational all-through school and sixth form located in Tynemouth, Tyne and Wear, England. The principal is Philip Sanderson. The school has a Christian foundation as the largest member of the List of Woodard Schools ...

and graduated from the

University of Edinburgh The University of Edinburgh (, ; abbreviated as ''Edin.'' in Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a Public university, public research university based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Founded by the City of Edinburgh Council, town council under th ...

with a degree in Mathematics. Webb represented the Scotland team 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, finishing 16th in the hammer throw event. The following year Webb, finished second behind

Lorraine Shaw Lorraine Amanda Shaw (born 2 April 1968) is an English hammer thrower who competed at two Olympic Games. Biography Shaw's personal best throw, and the previous British record, is 68.93 metres, achieved in June 2003 in Loughborough. She compe ...

at the

2003 AAA Championships The 2003 AAA Championships sponsored by Norwich Union, was an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held from 25 to 27 July at Alexander Stadium in Birmingham, England. It was considered the de fa ...

and produced the same result at the

2004 AAA Championships The 2004 AAA Championships was an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held from 10 to 11 July at the Manchester Regional Arena in Manchester, England. It was considered the de facto national c ...

. At the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Webb represented

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the north-west coast of continental Europe, consisting of the countries England, Scotland, and Wales. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the List of European ...

. In 2005, she won the

European Cup The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by top-division European clubs. The competition begins with a round robi ...

for Great Britain. This was the same year that she became the British hammer throw champion after winning the British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

title at the

2005 AAA Championships The 2005 AAA Championships was an outdoor track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association (AAA), held from 9–10 July at the Manchester Regional Arena in Manchester, England. It was considered the de facto national champ ...

. She represented the Scotland team again at the

2006 Commonwealth Games The 2006 Commonwealth Games, officially the XVIII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Melbourne 2006, were an International sport, international multi-sport event for members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Melbourne ...

in Melbourne. Her personal best throw is which is the Scottish record, and places her fifth on the British outdoor all-time list. Webb became a patron of

Meningitis UK Meningitis Now is a national charity based in the United Kingdom. It was formed following a merger between the charities The Meningitis Trust and Meningitis UK in 2013. Meningitis Now is working towards a future where no one in the UK dies from men ...

after suffering from viral meningitis.

International competitions

References

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Webb, Shirley 1981 births Living people Sportspeople from Whitley Bay British female hammer throwers Scottish female hammer throwers Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2004 Summer Olympics Commonwealth Games athletes for Scotland Athletes (track and field) at the 2002 Commonwealth Games Athletes (track and field) at the 2006 Commonwealth Games World Athletics Championships athletes for Great Britain People educated at The King's School, Tynemouth Alumni of the University of Edinburgh Competitors at the 2003 Summer Universiade English female hammer throwers Anglo-Scots Gladiators (2008 British TV series) 21st-century English sportswomen 21st-century Scottish sportswomen