Judy Simpson


Judith Earline Veronica Simpson is a British former heptathlete who competed at three Olympic Games and one World Athletics Championships, with a highest Olympic finish of fifth in the 1984 Games in Los Angeles.
She was the 1986 Commonwealth Games champion in heptathlon, and won further medals at two more Commonwealth Games, the European Athletics Championships and the World Student Games, now knows as the Universiade.
Following her retirement from athletics, she went on to appear as Nightshade in the TV show Gladiators between 1993 and 1996.

Early life

She went to Harris School.
She competed in Tae Kwan Do, becoming the English champion, and was in the English team. She lived on Wood Street.

Athletics career

Simpson was born in Jamaica, but brought up in Rugby, Warwickshire. She competed in the pentathlon at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow, in the heptathlon and high jump at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles, and in the heptathlon at the 1988 Summer Olympics in Seoul, Republic of Korea, as well as the heptathlon at the 1983 World Championships in Athletics. She competed in three Commonwealth Games; the 1982 Commonwealth Games in Brisbane, Australia, the 1986 Commonwealth Games in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the 1990 Commonwealth Games in Auckland, New Zealand, winning a silver, gold and bronze respectively in the heptathlon. She was also the Three A's heptathlon champion in 1982 and 1983. In 1986, Simpson won a bronze medal in the heptathlon at the European Championships in Stuttgart with a personal best points total of 6623.

Television

In 1987, Simpson participated in Prince Edward's charity television special The Grand Knockout Tournament. Between 1993 and 1996, she featured in the British television show Gladiators as "Nightshade". After appearing in an Ashes competition with Australian Gladiators, she became ill. She appeared for a few episodes of the 1996 series but was later forced to pull out.

Personal life

In 1999, Simpson's daughter, Joan Mary, died of meningitis, following a nationwide outbreak of the disease.