Tasha Danvers
Encyclopedia
Tasha De'Anka Danvers is a British
Olympic
bronze medallist, who finished in third place in the 400m Hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was born in London
to two athletes, Dorrett Mckoy and Donald Danvers, who both moved to the United Kingdom
from Jamaica
as children.
with a time of 56.66 in the heats. This failed to see her qualify through the rounds; however it gave her vital experience, which she took on to the following year at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
. At the age of 23, Danvers made the final of her first Olympic games, finishing in 8th place, after going out too hard. The following year, she won the 400 m hurdles at the 2001 Summer Universiade
.
In 2002, she attended her first Commonwealth Games
, in Manchester
. She finished 7th in the final, behind the winner Jana Pittman of Australia
. An athlete she would meet in the future, Melaine Walker
of Jamaica
, finished in 4th place. That same year, she also finished 7th in the 2002 European Athletics Championships
.
In 2003, she married her Coach, Darrell Smith, the nephew of sprint coach John Smith. From that season, she was styled as Tasha Danvers-Smith. When the couple divorced, in 2008, Danvers reverted to her maiden name.
Danvers-Smith missed her second Olympics, as she had taken time out for child-birth
. This was criticized by many, including the British
Olympic Medalist Alan Pascoe
, who called her "stupid", as most people thought she would never make a return to competitive athletics. She returned in 2006 to take a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games
, behind Pittman, as well as a seventh place in the final of the European Championships. At the end of this year, she reached a career high of 6th in the IAAF rankings.
While competing for the University of Southern California
(USC), Tasha won several PAC-10 conference titles and competed in several events including the high jump and the 100 m hurdles. Tasha won the NCAA
title in 2000 her second year as captain of the Women of Troy
. After the Sydney Olympics, she returned to Los Angeles
to finish her degree in Music Business and joined the famed training group HSI.
In February 2007, Tasha was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame.
Returning to the world scene in 2006, Tasha won her first global medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, a silver. She ended the summer as the sixth ranked hurdler in the world, setting the stage for her 2007 and 2008 seasons, and reclaiming her position as Britain's number one 400 hurdler. In 2007 Tasha made her first World Championship final, in a near personal best, 54.08. She drew lane 2 in the final and took 8th, but finished the season with a strong run of races following Osaka, finishing the season ranked number 10 by Track and Field News. She remained the British number one for the 2nd consecutive year.
In 2008, Tasha's athletics season started badly. She had achilles
problems, and tore her hamstring
on her first training session back from the achilles injury. At that year's British championships she recorded a disappointing time of 57.00, finishing in 2nd place far below her personal best. The race was won by the young athlete Perri Shakes Drayton. When the Olympic team was announced the following week, many criticized the selection of Danvers, as Shakes Drayton was an improving athlete, and Danvers, in many people's opinions, had reached her peak. However, Danvers attended the Olympics
, winning her heat, and finishing 2nd in her semi-final, being the 4th fastest qualifier for the 400 m hurdles
final. Danvers was in lane 7, one inside of ones of the favourites Tiffany Ross Williams. On entering the final straight, Danvers found herself in 3rd place. A part of the race that had been disastrous for her in the past, seemed to be in her favour, as she stormed down the straight closing down on the athlete ahead of her. She won a bronze medal in the final, with a personal best of 53.84s, behind Melaine Walker of Jamaica and Sheena Tosta of the United States
.
Danvers missed the 2009 World Championships in Athletics
due to injury.
Great Britain
Great Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
Olympic
Olympic Games
The Olympic Games is a major international event featuring summer and winter sports, in which thousands of athletes participate in a variety of competitions. The Olympic Games have come to be regarded as the world’s foremost sports competition where more than 200 nations participate...
bronze medallist, who finished in third place in the 400m Hurdles at the 2008 Beijing Olympics. She was born in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
to two athletes, Dorrett Mckoy and Donald Danvers, who both moved to the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
from Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
as children.
Athletics career
In 1999, she represented Great Britain at the 1999 World Championships in Athletics1999 World Championships in Athletics
The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29....
with a time of 56.66 in the heats. This failed to see her qualify through the rounds; however it gave her vital experience, which she took on to the following year at the 2000 Sydney Olympics
2000 Summer Olympics
The Sydney 2000 Summer Olympic Games or the Millennium Games/Games of the New Millennium, officially known as the Games of the XXVII Olympiad, were an international multi-sport event which was celebrated between 15 September and 1 October 2000 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia...
. At the age of 23, Danvers made the final of her first Olympic games, finishing in 8th place, after going out too hard. The following year, she won the 400 m hurdles at the 2001 Summer Universiade
2001 Summer Universiade
The 2001 Summer Universiade, also known as the XXI Summer Universiade, was an international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, People's Republic of China, between the 22 August and 1 September. A total of 6757 athletes from 165 nations took part in 12 sports...
.
In 2002, she attended her first Commonwealth Games
Commonwealth Games
The Commonwealth Games is an international, multi-sport event involving athletes from the Commonwealth of Nations. The event was first held in 1930 and takes place every four years....
, in Manchester
Manchester
Manchester is a city and metropolitan borough in Greater Manchester, England. According to the Office for National Statistics, the 2010 mid-year population estimate for Manchester was 498,800. Manchester lies within one of the UK's largest metropolitan areas, the metropolitan county of Greater...
. She finished 7th in the final, behind the winner Jana Pittman of Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
. An athlete she would meet in the future, Melaine Walker
Melaine Walker
Melaine Walker O.D is a Jamaican 400 metres hurdler. Walker is the reigning World and Olympic 400 m hurdles champion...
of Jamaica
Jamaica
Jamaica is an island nation of the Greater Antilles, in length, up to in width and 10,990 square kilometres in area. It is situated in the Caribbean Sea, about south of Cuba, and west of Hispaniola, the island harbouring the nation-states Haiti and the Dominican Republic...
, finished in 4th place. That same year, she also finished 7th in the 2002 European Athletics Championships
2002 European Championships in Athletics
The 18th European Athletics Championships were held from 6 August to 11 August 2002 in the Olympic Stadium of Munich, Germany.-Track:1994 |1998 |2002 |2006 |2010 |...
.
In 2003, she married her Coach, Darrell Smith, the nephew of sprint coach John Smith. From that season, she was styled as Tasha Danvers-Smith. When the couple divorced, in 2008, Danvers reverted to her maiden name.
Danvers-Smith missed her second Olympics, as she had taken time out for child-birth
Childbirth
Childbirth is the culmination of a human pregnancy or gestation period with the birth of one or more newborn infants from a woman's uterus...
. This was criticized by many, including the British
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
Olympic Medalist Alan Pascoe
Alan Pascoe
Alan Peter Pascoe, MBE was a British athlete who gained success in hurdles. After his athletics career, he has been successful in events marketing and consulting.-Early life and education:...
, who called her "stupid", as most people thought she would never make a return to competitive athletics. She returned in 2006 to take a silver medal in the Commonwealth Games
2006 Commonwealth Games
The 2006 Commonwealth Games were held in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia between 15 March and 26 March 2006. It was the largest sporting event to be staged in Melbourne, eclipsing the 1956 Summer Olympics in terms of the number of teams competing, athletes competing, and events being held.The site...
, behind Pittman, as well as a seventh place in the final of the European Championships. At the end of this year, she reached a career high of 6th in the IAAF rankings.
While competing for the University of Southern California
University of Southern California
The University of Southern California is a private, not-for-profit, nonsectarian, research university located in Los Angeles, California, United States. USC was founded in 1880, making it California's oldest private research university...
(USC), Tasha won several PAC-10 conference titles and competed in several events including the high jump and the 100 m hurdles. Tasha won the NCAA
National Collegiate Athletic Association
The National Collegiate Athletic Association is a semi-voluntary association of 1,281 institutions, conferences, organizations and individuals that organizes the athletic programs of many colleges and universities in the United States...
title in 2000 her second year as captain of the Women of Troy
USC Trojans
The USC Trojans are the athletic teams representing the University of Southern California in Los Angeles, California. While the men's teams are nicknamed the Trojans, the women's athletic teams are referred to as either the Trojans or Women of Troy...
. After the Sydney Olympics, she returned to Los Angeles
Los Angeles, California
Los Angeles , with a population at the 2010 United States Census of 3,792,621, is the most populous city in California, USA and the second most populous in the United States, after New York City. It has an area of , and is located in Southern California...
to finish her degree in Music Business and joined the famed training group HSI.
In February 2007, Tasha was inducted into the USC Hall of Fame.
Returning to the world scene in 2006, Tasha won her first global medal at the Melbourne Commonwealth Games, a silver. She ended the summer as the sixth ranked hurdler in the world, setting the stage for her 2007 and 2008 seasons, and reclaiming her position as Britain's number one 400 hurdler. In 2007 Tasha made her first World Championship final, in a near personal best, 54.08. She drew lane 2 in the final and took 8th, but finished the season with a strong run of races following Osaka, finishing the season ranked number 10 by Track and Field News. She remained the British number one for the 2nd consecutive year.
In 2008, Tasha's athletics season started badly. She had achilles
Achilles
In Greek mythology, Achilles was a Greek hero of the Trojan War, the central character and the greatest warrior of Homer's Iliad.Plato named Achilles the handsomest of the heroes assembled against Troy....
problems, and tore her hamstring
Hamstring
In human anatomy, the hamstring refers to any one of the three posterior thigh muscles, or to the tendons that make up the borders of the space behind the knee. In modern anatomical contexts, however, they usually refer to the posterior thigh muscles, or the tendons of the semitendinosus, the...
on her first training session back from the achilles injury. At that year's British championships she recorded a disappointing time of 57.00, finishing in 2nd place far below her personal best. The race was won by the young athlete Perri Shakes Drayton. When the Olympic team was announced the following week, many criticized the selection of Danvers, as Shakes Drayton was an improving athlete, and Danvers, in many people's opinions, had reached her peak. However, Danvers attended the Olympics
2008 Summer Olympics
The 2008 Summer Olympics, officially known as the Games of the XXIX Olympiad, was a major international multi-sport event that took place in Beijing, China, from August 8 to August 24, 2008. A total of 11,028 athletes from 204 National Olympic Committees competed in 28 sports and 302 events...
, winning her heat, and finishing 2nd in her semi-final, being the 4th fastest qualifier for the 400 m hurdles
Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metre hurdles
The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.-Round 1:The first three runners of each heat plus the next four overall fastest runners qualified for the Semifinals.-Semifinals:...
final. Danvers was in lane 7, one inside of ones of the favourites Tiffany Ross Williams. On entering the final straight, Danvers found herself in 3rd place. A part of the race that had been disastrous for her in the past, seemed to be in her favour, as she stormed down the straight closing down on the athlete ahead of her. She won a bronze medal in the final, with a personal best of 53.84s, behind Melaine Walker of Jamaica and Sheena Tosta of the United States
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
.
Danvers missed the 2009 World Championships in Athletics
2009 World Championships in Athletics
The 12th IAAF World Championships in Athletics were held in Berlin, Germany from 15–23 August 2009. The majority of events took place in the Olympiastadion, while the marathon and racewalking events started and finished at the Brandenburg Gate....
due to injury.
Other
When not competing, Danvers is a keen artist. She started singing from an early age, and currently paints canvases. Her work is on sale at She is also a public speaker, coach and personal trainer, as well as becoming a prominent fitness model. She has also been on The BBC's A Question of Sport.Performance at Major Games
| Championship | Event | Heat | Semifinal | Final | |||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Result | Rank | Result | Rank | Result | Rank | ||
| 1999 World Championships 1999 World Championships in Athletics The 7th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Estadio Olímpico, Seville, Spain, between the August 20 and August 29.... |
400m Hurdles | 56.22 | 6 | Did not advance | |||
| 2000 Olympics | 400m Hurdles | 55.68 | 54.95 | 55.00 | 8 | ||
| 2000 Olympics | 4x400m Relay | 3:25.28 | 1* | 3:25.67 | 6 | ||
| 2001 World Championships 2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America... |
400m Hurdles | 56.36 | 4 | Did not advance | |||
| 2001 World Championships 2001 World Championships in Athletics The 8th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held at the Commonwealth Stadium, Edmonton, Alberta, Canada between 3 August and 12 August and was the first time the event had visited North America... |
4x400m Relay | 3:25.25 | 2* | 3:26.94 | 5 | ||
| 2002 European Championships | 400m Hurdles | 56.55 | 4 | 56.93 | 7 | ||
| 2003 World Championships 2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:... |
400m Hurdles | 56.02 | 4 | 55.48 | 7 | Did not advance | |
| 2003 World Championships 2003 World Championships in Athletics The 9th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations, were held from 23 August to 31 August 2003 in the Stade de France in Saint-Denis, Seine-Saint-Denis, France.-Track:... |
4x400m Relay | 3:26.44 | 2* | 3:26.67 | 6 | ||
| 2006 European Championships | 400m Hurdles 2006 European Athletics Championships – Women's 400 metres hurdles The women's 400 metres hurdles at the 2006 European Athletics Championships were held at the Ullevi on August 7, 8 and August 9.Iakovákis and Plawgo were well ahead of the field, while Williams surged towards the finish line and pipped Frenchman Naman Keïta by a... |
55.64 | 2 | 55.17 | 3 | 55.56 | 7 |
| 2007 World Championships 2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations , were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007... |
400m Hurdles | 55.67 | 3 | 54.08 | 2 | 54.94 | 8 |
| 2008 Olympics | 400 m hurdles Athletics at the 2008 Summer Olympics - Women's 400 metre hurdles The following new world and Olympic records were set during this competition.-Round 1:The first three runners of each heat plus the next four overall fastest runners qualified for the Semifinals.-Semifinals:... |
55.19 | 1 | 54.31 | 2 | 53.84 |  |
- Danvers only competed in the final, and did not run a leg in the heat.
Personal Bests
Best Marks- 300 m, 37.80 (2000)
- 400 m, 52.89 (2008)
- 100 m hurdles, 12.96 (2003)
- 400 m hurdles, 53.84 (2008)
- High jump, 1.82 m 1998)