Judy Simpson

Judy Simpson

Personal information
Born	14 November 1960
Medal record Women's Athletics Competitor for  England Commonwealth Games 1986 Edinburgh Heptathlon 1982 Brisbane Heptathlon 1990 Auckland Heptathlon Competitor for  Great Britain European Championships 1986 Stuttgart Heptathlon World Student Games (Universiade) 1983 Edmonton Heptathlon 1985 Kobe Heptathlon

Judith Earline Veronica Simpson (née Livermore) (born 14 November 1960), is a former British heptathlete who competed at three Olympic Games. She went on to appear as Nightshade in the TV show Gladiators between 1993 and 1996.

Career

Simpson was born in Kingston, Jamaica and competed in three Commonwealth Games, 1982, 1986 and 1990, winning a silver, gold and bronze respectively in the heptathlon. She also competed in the pentathlon at the 1980 Summer Olympics in Moscow and in the heptathlon and high jump at the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles. 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.

Between 1993 and 1996 Simpson featured in the UK TV 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.^[1]

Achievements

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Event	Notes
Representing  Great Britain /  England
1980	Olympic Games	Moscow, Soviet Union	13th	pentathlon	4304
1982	European Championships	Athens, Greece	7th	heptathlon	6287
	Commonwealth Games	Brisbane, Australia	5th	100 m hurdles	13.25
			2nd	heptathlon	6214
1983	World Student Games (Universiade)	Edmonton, Canada	3rd	heptathlon	6184
	World Championships	Helsinki, Finland	—	heptathlon	DNF
1984	Olympic Games	Los Angeles, United States	19th (q)	high jump	1.84 m
			5th	heptathlon	6280
1985	World Student Games (Universiade)	Kobe, Japan	3rd	heptathlon	6046
1986	Commonwealth Games	Edinburgh, Scotland	1st	heptathlon	6282
	European Championships	Stuttgart, West Germany	3rd	heptathlon	6623
1988	Olympic Games	Seoul, South Korea	—	heptathlon	DNF
1990	Commonwealth Games	Auckland, New Zealand	3rd	heptathlon	6085

References

1. BBC News | UK | Brain disease claims Gladiator's baby

External links

• Judy Simpson profile at IAAF