Fatima Whitbread (born 1961) is a retired British javelin thrower. She broke the women's javelin throw world record with a throw of 77.44 metres (254 ft .mw-parser-output .frac{white-space:nowrap}.mw-parser- output .frac .num,.mw-parser-output .frac .den{font-size:80%;line- height:0;vertical-align:super}.mw-parser-output .frac .den{vertical- align:sub}.mw-parser-output .sr-only{border:0;clip:rect(0,0,0,0);height: 1px;margin:-1px;overflow:hidden;padding:0;position:absolute;width:1px}3� ��4 in) at the 1986 European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, and also won the European title that year. She took the gold medal at the 1987 World Championships in Athletics and is a two-time Olympic medallist, winning bronze at the 1984 games and silver at the 1988 games. She was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1987. During her career, she had a well-publicised rivalry with another British javelin athlete, Tessa Sanderson. Her later career was affected by a persistent shoulder injury, and in 1992 she retired from competition. She has since appeared on several television programmes, including I'm a Celebrity ... Get Me Out of Here! in 2011. Whitbread was named the Sports Writers' Association Sportswoman of the Year in 1986 and 1987. She was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire for services to athletics.

Read more: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fatima_Whitbread

_______________________________ Today's selected anniversaries:

1823:

Around 110 boys were killed in a human crush at the Convent of the Minori Osservanti in Valletta on the last day of the Maltese Carnival. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Carnival_tragedy_of_1823

1840:

La fille du régiment (audio featured), an opéra comique by Gaetano Donizetti, premiered in Paris to highly negative reviews but later became a success. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/La_fille_du_r%C3%A9giment

1919:

Friedrich Ebert was elected the provisional president of Germany by the Weimar National Assembly. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Friedrich_Ebert

2008:

Rebel East Timorese soldiers invaded the homes of President José Ramos-Horta and Prime Minister Xanana Gusmão, seriously wounding the former. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_East_Timorese_assassination_attempts

_____________________________ Wiktionary's word of the day:

Isonade: (Japanese mythology) A mythological monster that resembles an enormous shark said to live off the coast of western Japan. https://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/Isonade

___________________________ Wikiquote quote of the day:

In life you must often choose between getting a job done or getting credit for it. In science, the most important thing is not the ideas you have but the decision which ones you choose to pursue. If you have an idea and are not doing anything with it, why spoil someone else's fun by publishing it?   --Leó Szilárd https://en.wikiquote.org/wiki/Le%C3%B3_Szil%C3%A1rd