In 1987, javelin thrower Fatima Whitbread was voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year (SPOTY) , beating snooker player Steve Davis and golfer Ian Woosnam in the public poll. Accepting the coveted trophy from Colin Cowdrey, she said simply, “I feel very proud amd honoured….”
After a series of near misses in major championships – at the inaugural World Athletics Championships in Helsinki in 1983, the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles and the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh – Whitbread finally shed the ‘bridesmaid’ tag at the European Athletics Championships in Stuttgart, less than a month after the Commonwealth Games. In qualification, she threw a world record 77.44 metres and, in the final, threw 76.32 metres, the second-longest throw in history, to win the gold medal, ahead of Petre Felke and Beate Peters.
Felke regained the world record with a throw of 78.90 metres in Leipzig in late July 1987 and it was she and Whitbread who would emerge as the leading contenders for the gold medal at the World Athetics Championships in Rome in early September. Heading into the final day of the Championships, Whitbread appeared to the last hope of a gold medal for Team GB, but the Stoke Newington-born thrower answered every question asked of her. A fourth-round throw of 73.16 metres took her into the lead and she confirmed her position with a fifth-round throw of 76.64 metres, the second-longest of her career. Felke again won the silver medal and Peters the bronze.
Immediately afterwards, Whitbread said, “I can’t tell you how happy I am. At the moment it’s difficult to take it all in.” She also revealed the amount of effort required, saying, “My shoulder was sore and hurting and this was without doubt the toughest competition of my life. I had to work very hard for it. I was putting oil and freeze spray on all through the competition. Now I stink, but I believe I’ve proved I’m the greatest javelin thrower in the world.” Whitbread was also appointed
Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE), for services to athletics, in the 1987 Birthday Honours.