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Top 10 Sexiest and Hottest Women Athletes in the World
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 Kelly Sotherton: Heptathlon and 400m sprinter: Kelly
Jade Sotherton was born on 13 November 1976. She is an English former
heptathlete and 400m sprinter. She was the bronze medallist at the 2004 Summer
Olympics and was fourth at the 2008 Summer Olympics. She also was a bronze at
the 2007 World Championships in Athletics, and was the heptathlon gold medallist
at the 2006 Commonwealth Games. In November 2010, she announced her decision to
retire from the heptathlon, due to foot and back injuries. After considering
"the Rebecca Romero route" she then chose instead to focus on the 400 m.
Sotherton's funding from UK Athletics was cut in 2010 but in 2011 she returned
to heptathlon training.
As a teenager, Sotherton played netball for Hampshire, but also won two English
Schools� championships in the heptathlon. She moved to the Midlands in order to
train with 2000 Olympic heptathlon champion Denise Lewis. She made her senior
British team debut in 2002. She is a member of Birchfield Harriers athletics
club.
The javelin throw is considered her weakest discipline and has been cited as the
main reason for her lack of medals at the 2005 World Championships and 2006
European Championships
Sotherton was born in Newport, Isle of Wight on 13 November 1976.Sotherton
started her athletics career in the sports day at Caversham House Primary School
in Ryde, Isle of Wight. She was subsequently educated at Ryde High School and
Brunel University.Sotherton trains at the grounds of the athletics club
Birchfield Harriers, which is based in Birmingham, England.
She gained international recognition in 2004 when she unexpectedly won a bronze
medal at the Summer Olympics in Athens behind Carolina Kl�ft (gold) and Austra
Skujytė (silver), scoring 6424 points and finishing ahead of defending Olympic
champion Lewis, who dropped out due to injury.She was famously criticised for
settling the bronze medal instead of chasing the silver in the final event, the
800m, by her coach Charles van Commenee.
In February 2008, Sotherton competed in a three-event triathlon, at the Indoor
Grand Prix, in Birmingham, against a field including Carolina Kl�ft.
Sotherton started with a below-par performance in the long jump, allowing Kl�ft
to take the lead. Sotherton then won the 60 m hurdles in a personal best of 8.17
seconds. Despite running a personal best (and the fastest time by a Briton that
season) of 52.47 seconds in the 400m, Sotherton took second behind Kl�ft, who
won by 18 points.
After Kl�ft pulled out of the World Indoor Championships in Valencia, Sotherton
became favourite for the gold medal. She lived up to expectation in the 60 m
hurdles, winning in 8.25 seconds. However, Sotherton put in a well below-par
berformance in the high jump, achieving only 1.81 m, against Tia Hellebaut's
1.99 m., and Sotherton slipped to third and then to fifth after the shot put.
Sotherton then won the long jump with 6.45 m, moving into second, behind
Hellebaut, who set a Belgian record of 6.41 m. Hellebaut held a considerable
lead entering the final event, the 800 m. Sotherton needed to beat the Belgian
by 7.7 seconds to win gold. Sotherton set a personal best of 2:09.95, with
Hellebaut collapsing over the line in 2:16.42, 6.47 seconds behind Sotherton,
and the Briton had to again settle for silver.
After Kl�ft's retirement from heptathlon in 2008, Sotherton had been tipped by
many people to take gold at the 2008 Olympics, including Kl�ft herself. However
after a disappointing performance she could only manage 5th place in the
competition. Lyudmila Blonska was later disqualified for failing a doping test
and Sotherton was upgraded to fourth. She had previously labelled Blonska a
cheat, and questioned the validity of Blonska's silver medal at the World
Championships in 2007. She was also part of the 4 � 400 m relay team which
finished fifth in the final.
The following year, Sotherton struggled with injuries and although she was
selected for the 2009 European Indoor Championships she had to withdraw due to
heel problems. Despite recovering from this injury, her 2010 season was also
ruined by injury as her back problems recurred.
Sotherton completed "the first step of her reinvention as a 400m specialist",
with a victory in the 400m final in 53.46 sec, at the English Institute of Sport
- Sheffield indoor arena on 13 February 2011. Overcome at her win, she explained
a temporary breakdown at trackside; " When I prolapsed the disc in my back it
was career-threatening. I had to make a decision whether to end my career or try
something new." It was Sotherton's first national title in a track event.
On Sunday 27 May 2012, Sotherton announced her retirement from the sport after
failing to recover from back surgery in time for the London 2012 games
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Dated 10 December 2012
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