British javelin thrower (born 1986)
Joanna Blair
Born (1986-03-01 ) 1 March 1986 (age 38) Luton , EnglandSport Athletics
Joanna Blair (born 1 March 1986)[ 1] is a British javelin thrower who won the javelin event at the 2016 British Athletics Championships and England Athletics Championships, came second in the events at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games , 2006 AAA Championships and 2017 British Athletics Championships , and came third at the 2014 British Athletics Championships .
Career
Blair trained at Luton Athletics Club, and also worked as a sports masseuse .[ 2] In 2003, she won the English Schools Senior Championship javelin event.[ 3] She came second in the javelin event at the 2004 Commonwealth Youth Games , behind Australian Annabel Thomson .[ 4] Blair competed at the 2005 European Athletics Junior Championships .[ 2] She came second in the 2006 AAA Championships .[ 5] She came seventh in the 2010 South of England Championships, with a best throw of 42.20m.[ 6]
Blair came third in the javelin event at the 2014 British Athletics Championships .[ 5] She won the javelin event at the 2016 British Athletics Championships , in a personal best distance of 57.44m, more than three metres better than her previous best.[ 2] It was the seventh best throw ever by a British female javelin thrower.[ 2] Later in the year, she won the England Athletics Championships with a best throw of 52.63m,[ 7] and she was named Luton 's female sportsperson of the year.[ 8]
In 2017, she competed at the Nitro Athletics team event in Australia.[ 2] [ 9] She failed to qualify for the 2017 World Championships in Athletics in London;[ 2] the qualifying distance was 61.50 metres.[ 9] She came second at the 2017 trial event for the 2018 Commonwealth Games in Australia, and was considered a contender for a place at the Games.[ 2] She came second to Laura Whittingham at the 2017 British Athletics Championships .[ 10] Blair competed at the 2017 European Team Championships .[ 2] It was her first international event for 11 years, and she finished ninth.[ 11] At the event, she failed an out of competition drugs test, after testing positive for anabolic steroid metandienone .[ 11] She was suspended by UK Anti-Doping (UKAD),[ 2] who said they believed she had received a "contaminated supplement",[ 11] and Blair blamed contaminated creatine that she bought on the internet.[ 12] In 2018, she was given a backdated four year suspension until July 2021.[ 11] [ 12]
References