Joanne Wise

Joanne Wise
Personal information
NationalityEnglish
Born (1971-03-15) 15 March 1971 (age 53)
Solihull, Warwickshire, England
Sport
SportAthletics
ClubCoventry Godiva Harriers
Medal record
Athletics
Representing  England
Commonwealth Games
Gold medal – first place 1998 Kuala Lumpur long jump
Representing  Great Britain
World Junior Championships
Bronze medal – third place 1988 Sudbury Long Jump

Joanne Wise (born 15 March 1971) is a female former British track and field athlete who competed in the long jump. In 1998, she won the Commonwealth Games gold medal in Kuala Lumpur. She also competed at the Barcelona Olympic Games in 1992 and the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000.[1]

Career

Wise was born in Solihull, England and was a member of Coventry Godiva Harriers. An excellent junior, she was AAA's Junior champion at Under 15, Under 17 and Under 20 levels. She also won two English schools titles. In 1987, she finished fifth at the European Junior Championships in Birmingham. The highlight of Wise's junior career came in 1988 in Sudbury, Canada at the World Junior Championships, when she won a bronze medal with a wind-assisted jump of 6.69 m. Both world and European junior titles were won by Wise's longtime domestic rival Fiona May. She went on to finish seventh at the 1989 European Juniors in Varaždin (6.16 m) and ninth at the 1990 World Juniors in Plovdiv (6.14 m)

In 1992, Wise competed at her first Olympic Games but had a disastrous time in the qualifying round, managing only 5.87 m for 26th overall. At the 1993 World Championships, she was 23rd in the qualifying round with 6.20 m.

After struggling with injuries, Wise entered the best phase of her career at the 1997 World Indoor Championships, finishing fourth with 6.70 m, which tied the UK indoor record of Susan Hearnshaw set in 1984. She missed the bronze medal by just one centimetre. Later that same year, she narrowly missed the final at the World Championships in Athens. In 1998, she represented England and became the Commonwealth Champion with a jump of 6.63 m, ahead of Jackie Edwards and Nicole Boegman.[2][3][4] In 1999, at the World Championships in Seville, she finished fifth in the final with a jump of 6.75 m, just short of her lifetime best of 6.76 m, which she had set in Malmö two weeks earlier.

Wise competed at her second Olympic Games in Sydney, 2000, failing, by just one centimetre, to reach the final. She was also twice AAA's Champion (1999 & 2000), three times AAAs Indoor Champion (1992, 1997 & 1999) and was twice UK Champion (1992 & 1997).

Wise's indoor best of 6.70 m, remained the UK indoor record for fifteen years, until 2012, when Shara Proctor jumped 6.89 m. As of 2018, Wise's best of 6.76 m, ranks her equal 11th on the UK all-time list alongside Mary Rand.

International competitions

Year Competition Venue Position Notes
Representing  Great Britain /  England
1987 European Junior Championships Birmingham, United Kingdom 5th 6.24 m
1988 World Junior Championships Sudbury, Canada 3rd 6.69 m w (wind: +4.6 m/s)
1989 European Junior Championships Varaždin, Yugoslavia 7th 6.16 m
1990 World Junior Championships Plovdiv, Bulgaria 9th 6.14 m (wind: +0.8 m/s)
1992 Olympic Games Barcelona, Spain 26th (q) 5.87 m
1993 World Championships Stuttgart, Germany 23rd (q) 6.20 m
1997 World Indoor Championships Paris, France 4th 6.70 m
World Championships Athens, Greece 15th (q) 6.52 m
1998 Commonwealth Games Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia 1st 6.63 m
1999 World Championships Seville, Spain 5th 6.75 m
2000 Olympic Games Sydney, Australia 12th (q) 6.59 m

Notes:

  • (q) indicates overall position in qualifying round.
  • (w) indicates wind-assisted jump
  • At the Olympic Games, Wise was promoted one position due to the drugs disqualifications of Nijolė Medvedeva (1992) and Marion Jones (2000).

References

  1. ^ "Olympic Profile". Sports Reference. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020.
  2. ^ "1998 Athletes". Team England.
  3. ^ "England team in 1998". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 30 March 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2020.
  4. ^ "Athletes and results". Commonwealth Games Federation. Archived from the original on 16 December 2019. Retrieved 17 January 2020.