3rd May 2017

British javelin record holder and 11-time British Champion, 34-year-old Goldie Sayers (coach: Dan Pfaff) has today announced her retirement from athletics.

Looking back on a 20-year career in the sport, which saw Sayers compete at three Olympic Games (Athens 2004, Beijing 2008 and London 2012), five world championships and three Commonwealth Games, British Athletics Performance Director Neil Black said “Goldie’s javelin career has been inspirational.  She is up there with the all-time greats of British throwing.  She first broke the British junior javelin record in 2001 and continued to break British records throughout her career.

“Whilst today marks the end of Goldie’s involvement in athletics as a competitor, I am glad she intends to remain active within the sport and wish her all the luck with her appointment as Deputy Chef de Mission at the European Youth Olympics festival this summer.”

"I’d like to thank Goldie for her contribution to the British team over the years and know that she will be missed at the World Championships in London this summer," said UK Athletics Chief Executive Niels de Vos.

“I will always remember the amazing moment Goldie threw 66.17m to break her own national record and beat a top-class javelin field at the London Grand Prix in 2012.”

Sayers is also one of nine British athletes awaiting further news regarding the reallocation of medals from the Beijing 2008 Olympic Games following retrospective testing by the International Olympic Committee.

Added Black: “Hopefully, at some point in the very near future, Goldie will be awarded the Olympic Bronze medal she rightly deserves from Beijing, which will top off a fantastic athletics career.”