| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's athletics | ||
| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Competitor for England | ||
| Silver | 1986 Edinburgh | 800m |
| Gold | 1990 Auckland | 800m |
| Bronze | 1998 Kuala Lumpur | 800m |
Diane Modahl, née Edwards (born June 17, 1966) is an English former middle distance runner.
Originally from Manchester, of Jamaican parents, she was 800 m champion in the Commonwealth Games of 1990. She competed in four Olympic Games: 1988 in Seoul, 1992 in Barcelona, 1996 in Atlanta, and 2000 in Sydney. She came fourth in the 800m at the 1993 world championship in Stuttgart, won the Europa Super Cup 800m in 1994, and came third at the 1989 IAAF Grand Prix final behind Ana Quirot of Cuba. She was a finalist at European and world championships and the Olympic Games and won six British 800m titles.
Her career nearly ended in 1994 when she was accused of taking the performance-enhancing drug, testosterone. She was sent home from the Commonwealth Games in Canada.
Modahl engaged lawyers to show that the laboratory in Lisbon had stored her urine sample on a table in a room heated at 35 degrees for three days, which caused bacterial degradation. She has always professed her innocence and was later cleared. She said: "I have declared my innocence, I have never taken any banned substance".[1]
The British Athletic Federation lifted the ban on 25 July 1995. On 25 March 1996 the IAAF congress in South Africa also accepted the report and cleared her. The IAAF general secretary said: "We can no longer trust that the laboratories get it right; we have to test the testers more often". Modahl spent six years fighting the BAF for compensation and to clear her name - she sought £450,000 in damages.[2] The High Court ruled against her in 2000, on the basis that no contract existed between her and the BAF.[3] Ultimately, the cost financially ruined Modahl and contributed to the financial collapse of the BAF in 1998, which was replaced by UK Athletics.
Modahl returned to competition at the 1996 Olympic Games but pulled a hamstring in the heat 50m from the finish. In 1998 she won the 800m bronze medal at the Commonwealth Games in Kuala Lumpur.
Modahl is a non-executive board member at NHS Manchester, chief ambassador for StreetGames, a charity for inner-city children, and runs the Diane Modahl Foundation to identify talents. She is married to Vicente Modahl; they have three children. She is also a cousin of Chris Eubank.
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