Christina Boxer

Christina Boxer

Personal information
Born	25 March, 1957
Medal record Women's athletics Competitor for  England Commonwealth Games Gold 1982 Brisbane 1500 m Silver 1990 Auckland 1500 m

Christina Tracy Boxer-Cahill (born 25 March 1957) is a retired female middle distance athlete from England. She represented Great Britain at three Olympic Games, in Moscow 1980, Los Angeles 1984 and Seoul 1988, where she finished fourth in the 1500 metres final. She also won a gold medal in the 1500 m at the 1982 Commonwealth Games. In 1979, she became the first British woman in history to run the 800 metres in under two-minutes.

Career

Boxer was born in Northolt, Greater London, England and was a member of Aldershot, Farnham & District Athletics Club and later Gateshead Harriers & AC. In 1971, she won the Under 15 English National Cross Country Championships. She won the first of 11 AAAs and UK National titles in 1977, winning the AAAs National 800 metres title in 2:03.78.

In August 1979, Boxer became the first British woman to run 800 metres in under two minutes, with a time of 1:59.05 in Turin.^[1] She still remains one of only three British woman, along with Kirsty Wade and Hannah England, to have broken both two minutes for 800 metres and nine minutes for 3000 metres. She competed at her first Olympic Games in Moscow 1980, reaching the semi-finals of the 800 m. In 1982, she won the gold medal in the women's 1500 m event at the Commonwealth Games in Brisbane.

On 6 July 1984, Boxer achieved her career best of 4:00.57 in the 1500 m at Gateshead, to break Christine Benning's five-year-old British record. A month later, at the Los Angeles Olympics, she finished 6th in the 1500 m final with 4:05.53. She ended the season running a career best time in the mile, with 4:22.64 in London. Although she lost her British 1500 m record to Zola Budd, who ran 3:59.96 in Brussels, Boxer had another fine season in 1985. She ran her best ever time in the 3000 m, with 8:49.89 at the Crystal Palace and finished second in the 1500 m at the European Cup in Moscow, behind Raviliya Agletdinova of the Soviet Union.

After a disappointing couple of years, Boxer returned to top form in 1988. Competing at her third Olympics in Seoul, South Korea, (under her then married name of Cahill), she finished 4th in the 1500 m final, with her best time for four years, 4:00.64. She was beaten into bronze by Tetyana Samolenko, who was later banned for taking performance-enhancing drugs.^[2]

In 1990, Boxer won a Commonwealth Games silver medal in the 1500 m behind Canada's Angela Chalmers. At the 1992 British Olympic trials, she finished sixth in the 1500 m final, failing to earn selection for Barcelona.

As of 2013, Boxer still ranks in the UK all-time top ten for 800 m, 1500 m and the mile. She ranks tenth in the 800 m (1:59.05), fifth in the 1500 m (4:00.57) and fourth in the mile (4:22.64).

Later career

After her retirement she worked as a Sport and Physical Activity Consultant leading national projects involving health-activity and sport retention programmes, while also coaching worldclass senior and junior athletes. In the late 1990s she became a reporter for BBC Sport's athletics coverage, providing track-side interviews at the Sydney Olympic Games in 2000. She was replaced by Sally Gunnell.

Boxer was Board Director of sportscoachUK from 1998-2007 and a sporting patron of the Youth Sport Trust from 1992-2006. After completing a MSc in Sport & Exercise Psychology she became a senior lecturer and Course Leader of Sports Coaching Science at the University of Worcester ^[3] before being appointed Director of Girl's Sport/Sport Development at Malvern College in 2008.^[4] She is currently Sports Development Manager at the University of Birmingham managing staff and programmes in Participation, Active Lifestyles, Volunteering, Coaching and Club Development.^[5] In 2011, she was appointed Chair of Birmingham Athletic Network.^[6][7]

Achievements

• 5 Times AAAs National Champion - 800 m (1977, 1978) 1500 m (1982, 1988, 1990)
• 5 Times UK National Champion - 800 m (1979, 1980, 1984, 1988) 1500 m (1986)
• AAAs Indoor Champion - 1500 m (1992)

Representing  Great Britain /  England
1978	Commonwealth Games	Edmonton, Canada	11th	1500 m	4:26.14
1979	European Cup	Turin, Italy	6th	800 m	1:59.05
1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Russia	semi-final	800 m	2:00.9
1982	Commonwealth Games	Brisbane, Australia	1st	1500 m	4:08.28
1983	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	9th	1500 m	4:06.74
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	6th	1500 m	4:05.53
1985	European Cup	Moscow, Russia	2nd	1500 m	4:02.58
1986	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, Scotland	4th	1500 m	4:12.84
	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	heats	1500 m	4:07.74
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	4th	1500 m	4:00.64
1990	Commonwealth Games	Auckland, New Zealand	2nd	1500 m	4:08.71
	European Championships	Split, Yugoslavia	10th	1500 m	4:14.48
1991	World Championships	Tokyo, Japan	heats	1500 m	4:09.01
1992	European Indoor Championships	Genoa, Italy	heats	1500 m	4:14.46

References

External links

• Profile of Christina Boxer-Cahill. www.sports-Reference.com.
• Sunday Times article 16 August, 2009
• United Kingdom all-time lists - women (800m, 1000m, 1500m, 1 mile, 2000m, 3000m). www.gbrathletics.com.