Information about Sharron Davies

Medal record
Competitor for  United Kingdom
Women's Swimming
Olympic Games
Silver	1980 Moscow	400m Medley
European Championships (LC)
Bronze	1977 Jönköping	400m Medley
Bronze	1977 Jönköping	4x100m Freestyle

Sharron Davies, MBE (born November 1, 1962) is one of Britain's most successful swimmers ever. Having won two gold medals at the Commonwealth Games and a silver at the 1980 Olympics in Moscow, Davies has built a successful second career as television presenter and patron for charities for disabled children and fitness.

Swimming

Davies grew up in Plymouth and Plymstock. She learned to swim at age six and was training seriously two years later. She set a record by swimming for the British national team at the age of only eleven. She was so determined that she continued her training even after breaking both her wrists in a childhood accident. In 1976, still a few months prior to her fourteenth birthday, Davies was selected to represent Britain at the 1976 Olympic Games in Montreal. Although her performance was not enough to get her in the medals, it did make her a household name. The next year she stepped a gear to win two bronze medals in the 1977 European Championships. The following year, still just sixteen, she won gold medals at the Commonwealth Games in the 200 and 400 metre individual medleys. She also picked up a further silver and bronze medal.

By 1980 Davies was ready for a more serious Olympic challenge. She took the silver medal in the 400m individual medley behind East German Petra Schneider.

At the age of 18, Davies called time on the first stage of her swimming career in order to build her television profile and a career in modelling. In 1989 she returned to the pool where she picked up two more medals at the 1990 Commonwealth Games. By the time she finally hung up her swimsuit for good in 1994, she had been a British champion on twenty occasions and had broken 200 British swimming records and 5 World Masters records (eligible to those over 30).

Media career

Davies later joined the team of former British sports stars in presenting and commentating on sport coverage for the BBC. Initially this covered swimming but was extended to other sports for the Atlanta and Sydney Olympics.

Davies caused a stir in the swimming community in 1994 when she headed a "British Girls of Sport" calendar. Instead of their usual functional sporting outfits, the athletes adopted a variety of sexy outfits in order to raise money for the Sports Aid Foundation. Davies had a breast enhancement operation after the birth of her first child and her figure was the subject of much tabloid gossip during the 2004 Olympic Games.

Davies has published a number of health and fitness videos and co-authored books on the same topic. In 1995 she joined ITV's Gladiators as Gladiator Amazon. A knee injury forced her to withdraw from the gameshow in 1996. She later complained of the health and safety aspects of the show.

In 1994, a documentary was made about Davies and Redmond for the Xpress (TV series). It was produced and directed by Pogus Caesar for Windrush Productions and broadcast on Carlton TV

Also in 1996, Davies became a presenter of Channel 4's The Big Breakfast.

Personal

Early in her career Sharron was, briefly, linked romantically with Daley Thompson.

Davies then lived with Neil Adams, who won numerous Olympic and Judo World Championship medals in judo, in a long term relationship until he left her suddenly to marry a hairdresser.

Her first marriage to physical training instructor John Crisp in 1986 ended in divorce in 1991 after five years.

Sharron's second marriage was to athlete Derek Redmond, with whom she had two children, Elliott and Grace. They divorced in 2000.

Davies' third and current marriage is to airline pilot Tony Kingston. She announced that she was three months pregnant after IVF treatment. Sharron and her husband Tony Kingston have been trying for a baby for four years and suffered two miscarriages. During a Sports Relief event in Devon, she said: “We’re very optimistic and happy but we’re cautious, too, because of what we have been through. Giving birth at 43 doesn’t worry me. I’m in better shape than most women 15 years younger. So many women go through this as they leave it later to have babies.” Sharron gave birth to her third child, a son on January 30th 2007. They named him Finley John Kingston-Davies, Finley joins older siblings Elliott and Grace.

In 1993 she was awarded the MBE for her services to swimming. Davies is a current patron of the Disabled Sport England and The Sports Aid Foundation. Davies is also the face of the Swim for Life charity event.

External links and references

• Sharron Davies' official homepage
• On Davies' 1998 appeal to the IOC

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