|
Ashia
Hansen
 |
| Ashia
Hansen |
Ashia
switched from long jump to triple jump in 1992 and has never looked
back since. She has now become one of the world's greatest Triple
Jumpers and currently holds the World Indoor Record.
She
is without doubt Britain's greatest ever-female jumper having already
set twenty British records.
In
1997 Ashia won her first major medal, silver at the World Indoor
Championships in Paris. Ashia's progress during 1997 elevated her
into the World's elite.
Ashia
trains with the elite Birchfield Harriers a prominent player on
the stage of British track and field.
Denise
Lewis
 |
| Denise
Lewis |
Golden
girl, Denise Lewis was born in West Bromwich in 1972. She's a winner
of many medals including gold medals at Heptathlon at Commonwealth
and European level.
After
joining Birmingham Birchfield Harriers, she tested her undoubted
natural abilities in every discipline: running, jumping and throwing.
It
was soon realized that she was a 'natural' for the seven event heptathlon.
With a superb all-round talent, Denise has progressed to the highest
world-class level at the heptathlon, with the culmination to date
being her Olympic gold medal in Sydney.
She
was awarded the MBE in the 1999 New Year Honours - and 12 months
later, following her Olympic triumph, advanced to be OBE In 2001.
Tessa
Sanderson
 |
| Tessa
Sanderson |
Wolverhampton
born Tessa Sanderson has established herself as a living legend
in the world of international javelin throwing.
Over
a 17-year career in senior international competition, Sanderson
had won one Olympic and three Commonwealth gold medals. Tessa was
the dominant force amongst British javelin throwers for a decade.
Tessa
retired in 1992 to pursue a career in Television.
Daniel
Caines
 |
| Daniel
Caines |
Born
in 1979, Daniel Caines is Great Britain's top athlete at the 400-metre
distance. His place at the top of the world stage was secured when
he won the gold medal at the World Indoor Championships in 2001.
His time at 45.61 seconds was the second fastest in the world.
Daniel
comes from a family with a fine sporting pedigree. His mother, Blondelle
Thompson, set a British record at 13.0 for 100m hurdles in 1974
and ran for Britain in the European Championships that year. His
father Joe Caines was a British junior international in 1970 - 1970.
His uncles Garry and Keith Thompson were footballers with Aston
Villa and Coventry City.
Daniel
trains with the Birchfield Harriers in Birmingham, home to world
class athletes.
Mark
Lewis-Francis
 |
| Mark
Lewis-Francis |
Lewis-Francis
is a member of the Birchfield Harriers, home also to Olympic gold
medal-winning heptathlete Denise Lewis, Ashia Hansen and Daniel
Caines but to name a few.
Lewis-Francis
won his first English schools title in 1997, when he was only 15.
Though more medals followed, he didn't come to the attention of
the national media until 2000 where he qualified to run for Britain
in the 100m at the 2000 Olympics.
He
was elected as British Junior Male Athlete of the Year in both 2000
and 2001, the first man ever to win this honour twice.
Kash
'The Flash' Gill
Kick Boxing Champion
 |
| Kash
Gill |
Gill's
natural speed and athletic ability soon earned him the nickname
"The Flash"; a name which aptly stuck for the rest of
his fighting career.
The
list of world titles that Kash has picked up and added to his collection
over the years is impressive - the gold medal in the PKA World Amateur
Championships in St Nazaire, the light-middleweight gold medal in
the European Amateur Championships in Paris, the light-middleweight
title in the British professional PKA Championship, the WKA Professional
European kickboxing title in Palermo, Italy.
Having
created not just ripples, but waves of excitement in the world of
kickboxing, Kash was now widely acknowledged as a world class Thaiboxer.
Stan
Collymore
 |
| Stan
Collymore |
Stan
Collymore was born, in Cannock. He is one of the most controversial
figures of recent footballing times.
His
best top-flight form so far came during his spell at Nottingham
Forest, earning him a multi-million pound move to Liverpool and
then to Villa. His troubled career took a new downturn when he fell
out with the boss in September 2000.
Bradford
City then took a gamble on the striker by taking him on a free transfer
in October 2000. He made 11 Premiership appearances for the Foxes.
Collymore
then went on to make a handful of appearances at Real Ovideomade
football club before he announced his retirement from the game aged
only 30. His ex-managers all agreed that he was a huge waste of
talent.
| Vote
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readers to vote for who do they thought was the greatest black sports,
music or TV personality to come out of Birmingham and the Black
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