Catherine Murphy

A runner who switched from being a 200 metre runner to a 400 specialist during the course of her career, Catherine Murphy was AAA champion in the 200 outdoors in 1995 and won five indoor titles over the two distances. Although born in England, she had Welsh parentage and used this qualification to compete at both the 2002 and 2006 Commonwealth Games.

She ran for Great Britain at both the 2003 World Championships and the 2004 Olympic Games. In February 2010 the IAAF announced that American Crystal Cox had her results annulled, due to an admission of doping, for the period including the 2004 Olympics. Cox ran in the heats of the 4 x 400 relay in Athens and IAAF rules state that in these circumstances Cox’s team has to be disqualified.

The second anniversary of this announcement passed in early 2012 with no decision having been made as to the reallocation of medals. If the USA lose their gold medals Murphy is in line to inherit an Olympic bronze medal. But in 2013, both the IAAF and the IOC announced that the result would stand and the American squad (except Cox) would be allowed to retain their gold medals and that they now considered the case closed.

Personal Best: 400 – 51.36 (2002).