Heather Fell facts for kids
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's modern pentathlon | ||
Representing  Great Britain |
||
| Olympic Games | ||
| Silver | 2008 Beijing | Individual |
| World Championships | ||
| Gold | 2012 Rome | Team |
| Silver | 2008 Budapest | Team |
| Silver | 2008 Budapest | Relay |
| Silver | 2009 London | Team |
| Silver | 2010 Chengdu | Team |
| World Cup | ||
| Gold | 2008 Millfield | Individual |
| Bronze | 2007 Moscow | Individual |
| Bronze | 2008 Kladno | Individual |
| European Championships | ||
| Gold | 2007 Riga | Relay |
| Silver | 2007 Riga | Individual |
| Silver | 2009 Leipzig | Individual |
| Silver | 2012 Sofia | Team |
| Bronze | 2010 Debrecen | Team |
| Bronze | 2012 Sofia | Relay |
| Women's Triathlon | ||
| Representing Great Britain |
||
| 35-39F European Sprint Triathlon Championships | ||
| Gold | 2018 Glasgow | Individual |
Heather Fell, born on March 3, 1983, in Plymouth, England, is a talented British athlete. She used to compete in a sport called modern pentathlon. Later, she became a triathlete. Heather is famous for winning a silver medal at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. This was for the women's modern pentathlon event.
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Heather Fell's Early Life and Training
Heather grew up in Tavistock, Devon. There, she learned to ride horses and shoot. These are two important skills needed for the modern pentathlon. She was taught by the parents of Kate Allenby, who won an Olympic medal in pentathlon in 2000. Heather also studied physiotherapy at Brunel University.
Heather Fell's Athletic Career
Heather had great success when she was a junior athlete. In 2003, she won two gold medals and one silver medal at the World Junior Championships in Athens. However, in 2006, she almost stopped competing. She had several injuries called shin splints. Because of this, her funding from UK Sport was stopped.
Heather said this challenge motivated her even more. She could no longer afford to train at the University of Bath. So, she moved back home with her parents. To pay for her training, she worked three part-time jobs. She was a swimming coach, a barmaid, and a physiotherapist. Her funding was only restored after she qualified for the Olympics.
First International Medals
In 2007, Heather won her first medal at a World Cup event. She earned a bronze medal in Moscow. She also won an individual silver medal at the 2007 European Championships in Riga. This win helped her qualify for the Olympics. At the same event, she won a gold medal with her relay team. Her teammates were Katy Livingston and Georgina Harland.
In 2008, Heather continued her success on the World Cup circuit. She won a gold medal at Millfield and a bronze medal in Kladno. In Kladno, she started the final event, the run, in fifth place. But she ran her personal best time and moved up to third place. She also set a personal best time in the swimming event. At the World Championships in Budapest, she finished fourth in the individual event. However, she won two silver medals with her teams. She earned silver in the team event with Georgina Harland and Mhairi Spence. She also won silver in the team relay event with Katy Livingston and Mhairi Spence.
Winning Silver at the 2008 Olympics
At the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing, Heather Fell won a silver medal. This was in the women's individual modern pentathlon event. She finished just behind Lena Schöneborn from Germany.
The modern pentathlon has five different sports:
- Shooting: Heather scored 185 out of 200 points in the air pistol shooting. This put her in sixth place.
- Fencing: She earned 880 points in fencing.
- Swimming: She scored 1328 points in freestyle swimming.
- Horse Riding: She got 1144 points in show jumping.
After these four events, Heather was in second place. She was 19 seconds behind the leader, Lena Schöneborn. The final event was a 3000-meter run. Heather completed the run in 10 minutes and 19.24 seconds. This earned her 1244 points. Her total score was 5752 points. She closed the gap on Schöneborn by 9 seconds but could not catch her for the gold medal. After winning her medal, Heather said she was very happy she decided to keep going with her sport.
Transition to Triathlon
In January 2014, Heather Fell announced she was retiring from modern pentathlon. She decided to start a new career in media. She also began competing in ironman triathlon races. These are very long races that combine swimming, cycling, and running.
In 2017, she came second in her age group (30-34 women) at the Standard Bank African Championship. This qualified her for the Ironman World Championship in Kona, Hawaii. It was her very first ironman distance race! She finished 36th in her age group at the 2017 Ironman World Championship. Since late 2017, Heather has also been a co-presenter on the Global Triathlon Network YouTube channel. In 2018, Heather became the European Sprint Triathlon Champion in the 35-39 women's age category. This win happened at the 2018 European Championships in Glasgow.
See also
- Modern pentathlon at the 2008 Summer Olympics
- Great Britain at the 2008 Summer Olympics
