Queen of Sport

Born Fatima Vedad in Stoke Newington, North East London on March 3, 1961, Fatima Whitbread endured what she described as a ‘nightmare of a childhood’ before being adopted by her javelin coach, Margaret Whitbread, and her husband as a teenager. In 1977, Whitbread won the intermediate, or under 17, age group at the English Schools Athletic Association Championships with a throw of 43.52 metres. She subsequently represented England at the 1978 Commonwealth Games in Edmonton, Canada, where she finished sixth behind compatriot Theresa ‘Tessa’ Sanderson – the rivalry between the two would become legendary – with a throw of 49.16 metres.

Whitbread competed at the first of three Olympic Games in Los Angeles, California in 1984, winning the bronze medal behind Sanderson and Tiina Lillak of Finland. However, she is probably best remembered for her achievements between 1986 and her formal retirement from competition in 1992. At the 1986 European Championships in Stuttgart, she won the gold medal with a throw of 76.32 metres in the final, by which time she had already set a new world record of 77.44 metres – 2.04 metres further than the previous mark, set by East German Petra Felke in 1985 – in the qualifying round. In so doing, she became the first British athlete, male or female, to hold a world record in a throwing event.

At the 1987 World Athletics Championhsips, Whitbread won gold again, with a throw of 76.64 metres. That year she was created a Member of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the Queen’s Birthday Honours List for services to athletics and voted BBC Sports Personality of the Year. At the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, Whitbread won the silver medal behind Felke but, thereafter, he career was dogged by a long-term shoulder injury, which eventually forced her retirement.

Not to be confused with American former figure skater Katy Taylor, Katie ‘The Bray Bomber’ Taylor is an Irish professional boxer who, at the time of writing, has the distinction of being undisputed world lightweight champion. Born in Bray, County Wicklow, hence her nickname, but based in Connecticut in the United States, Taylor, 35, currently defends a perfect 21-0 record, including six knockouts, since making her professional debut in November, 2016. Most recently, she outpointed Puerta Rican Amanda Serrano, by split decision, at Madison Square Garden, New York on April 30, 2022 to retain her WBC, WBA, IBF and WBO titles. Taylor remains one of just eight boxers, of either sex, to have held all four major world titles at the same time.

Taylor was also a prolific winner as an amateur. She made her debut against Northern Irishwoman Alanna Nihell (née Audley-Murphy) at the National Stadium, Dublin, in what was, in fact, the first officially sanctioned women’s boxing match on Irish soil, on October 31, 2001, winning on points. In her amateur boxing career as a a whole, Taylor compiled a record of 175-12-1, with highlights including six gold medals at the European Amateur Boxing Championships, five gold medals at the European Union Amateur Boxing Championships and another five at the IBA Women’s World Boxing Championships. At the 2012 Summer Olympics in London, which included women’s boxing for the first time, Taylor defeated Russian Sofya Ochigava 10-8 in the gold medal match to become the inaugural Olympic women’s lightweight champion.

In May, 2022, she was honoured by the IBA with the accolade of ‘Outstanding Boxer’ for her role in promoting women’s boxing. Although yet to be confirmed, at the time of writing, Taylor is set to make her home professional debut, in a rematch with Amanda Serrano, at Croke Park, Dublin in October, 2022.

Naomi Osaka was born in Osaka, Japan on October 16, 1997, but moved to the United States with her family at the age of three. She retained dual citizenship until October, 2019 when, as required by Japanese law, she chose one – in her case, Japanese citizenship – before turning 22 years of age. That decision also made her eligible to represent Japan at the 2020 Summer Olympics in Tokyo.

In July, 2014, Osaka made her debut on the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Tour in the Bank of the West Classic in Stanford, California. Still only 16 and ranked number 406 in the world, Osaka came through the qualifying draw, but beat former US Open Champion Samantha Stosur, ranked 19, 4-6, 7-6, 7-5 in the first round proper, having saved a match point in the second set.

It was not until the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California in March, 2018 that Osaka won her first WTA title, beating Daria Kasatkina 6-3, 6-2 in the final. However, in September, 2018, she won her first Grand Slam singles title at the US Open in New York City, beating Serena Williams 6-2, 6-4 in the final. Thus, she would become the first Japanese player to win a Grand Slam singles title.

Thereafter, Osaka won the Australian Open in 2019, the US Open again in 2020 and the Australian Open again in 2021, for a total of four Grand Slam singles titles. She reached the top of the WTA singles rankings on January 28, 2019, making her the first Asian player to do so and has spent a total of 25 weeks in all in the top spot. In 2021, Osaka took two self-imposed mental health breaks, one of which coincided with Wimbledon and, in 2022, announced that she would miss the event for the second year running due to an Achilles injury, which ‘still isn’t right’.

Born on February 4, 1994 in Mollet del Vallès in Catalonia, Northeastern Spain, Alexia Putellas is generally acknowledged as one of the best female footballers in the world. Indeed, in 2021, Putellas had the distinction of becoming the first player to win all three major individual awards, namely UEFA Women’s Player of the Year, Ballon d’Or Féminin and Best FIFA Women’s Player, in the same year.

A left-sided attacking midfielder by trade, but equally at home in a playmaking ‘number 10’ role, Putellas made her senior debut for Espanyol, aged 16, in 2010. However, after just a single season with Los Periquitos and another with Levante, she joined her current club, FC Barcelona Femení, at Johan Cruyff Stadium in 2012. Putellas made her senior international debut for Spain the following year, scoring the winning goal in stoppage-time in a 3-2 victory over England in the UEFA Women’s European Championship in Linköping, Sweden, and has never really looked back.

With Barcelona, whom she captains, Putellas has won the Primera División six times, Copa de la Reina six times and UEFA Women’s Champion League once. In the 2020/21 season, in which she recorded 42 goals and 32 assists, for all teams in all competitions, she led FC Barcelona Femení to an unprecedented continental treble. Los Blaugranes won the Primera División with a perfect 26-26 record, beat Chelsea 4-0 to win the UEFA Women’s Champion League final, in which Putellas scored the second goal from the penalty spot, and defeated Levante 4–2 in the Copa de la Reina final, with Putellas once again on the scoresheet. Ineternationally, Putellas has made less of an impact, but has nonetheless featured for Spain in two World Cups, in 2015 and 2019, and one UEFA European Women’s Championship, in 2017.