Janet Boyle
| Medal record | ||
|---|---|---|
| Women's athletics | ||
Competitor for  Northern Ireland
| ||
| Commonwealth Games | ||
| Silver | 1990 Auckland | high jump |
| Bronze | 1986 Edinburgh | high jump |
Janet Margaret Boyle (born 25 July 1963) is a former high jumper from Northern Ireland. She represented Great Britain & Northern Ireland at the 1988 Olympic Games in Seoul, South Korea. At the Commonwealth Games, she won a bronze medal in Edinburgh 1986 and a silver medal in Auckland 1990.
Career
Boyle was born in Belfast, Northern Ireland. She first came to prominence in 1983, finishing second at the UK National Championships, with 1.80 metres and third at the AAAs National Championships, with 1.85 m.[1]
Boyle won the UK national title in 1985, clearing 1.86 m. In 1986, she earned selection for both the Commonwealth Games and the European Championships. At the Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, representing Northern Ireland in a high quality competition, she won the bronze medal with a personal best of 1.90 m. Northern Ireland won two medals, as her teammate Sharon McPeake, won the silver medal, also clearing 1.90 m. At the Europeans in Stuttgart, she was eliminated in the qualifying round with a best of 1.83 m. She ended the season by improving her PB at a meeting at the Crystal Palace in September, clearing 1.91 m.
In 1987, Boyle won the AAAs indoor title with a jump of 1.90 m and went on to finish sixth at the European Indoor Championships in Lievin, with 1.91 m. This would remain her best ever indoor clearance. Outdoors, she placed second to Diana Davies at the UK Championships. No female high jumper from the UK was selected for that years World Championships in Rome.
Boyle would reach her peak in 1988. She won at the AAAs Championships, also incorporating the UK Olympic trials, equalling her PB of 1.91 m. Then at the Seoul Olympics she achieved her lifetime best with 1.92 m in the qualifying round, to reach the Olympic final. In the final, she cleared 1.90 m to finish twelfth.[2] Diana Davies also reached the final, finishing equal eighth, making 1988 the last time (as of 2013) that two women from the UK reached the Olympic high jump final.[3]
Boyle would continue as one of the UK's leading jumpers for the next four years. In 1989, she won her second UK national title with a 1.83 m clearance. In 1990, at her second Commonwealth Games in Auckland, she won the silver medal with 1.88 m, losing the gold medal in a jump off with New Zealand's Tania Murray. In 1991, she was third at the UK Championships and second at the AAAs Championhsips, behind Debbie Marti. She competed at the 1992 AAAs Chamnpionships, which were also the Olympic trials, but failed to earn selection for the Barcelona Olympics.
As of 2013, Boyle's best of 1.92 m from Seoul in 1988, ranks her equal eighth on the UK all-time list and remains the Northern Irish record.[4]
Achievements
- AAAs National Champion (1988)
- UK National Champion (1985, 1989)
- AAAs National Indoor Champion (1987)
- Northern Irish Champion (1985, 1988)
Representing  Great Britain / Northern Ireland | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1986 | Commonwealth Games | Edinburgh, Scotland | 3rd | 1.90 m | |
| European Championships | Stuttgart, West Germany | 19th (q) | 1.83 m | ||
| 1987 | European Indoor Championships | Lievin, France | 6th | 1.91 m | |
| 1988 | Olympic Games | Seoul, South Korea | 12th | 1.90 m (1.92) | |
| 1990 | Commonwealth Games | Auckland, New Zealand | 2nd | 1.88 m | |
Notes:
- Result with a Q, indicates overall position in qualifying round.
- Result in brackets, indicates heigh achieved in qualifying round