Kate Allenby
{{short description|British modern pentathlete}}
{{about||the Australian missionary|Kate Allenby (missionary)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=August 2021}}
{{Use British English|date=August 2012}}
{{Infobox sportsperson
| honorific_suffix = {{post-nominals|size=100%|country=GBR|MBE}}
| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1974|3|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = Tavistock, Devon, United Kingdom
| fullname = Katherine Fiona Allenby
| olympics = 2004 Athens – Individual – 8th 2000 Sydney – Individual – bronze
| headercolor = lightsteelblue
| medaltemplates =
{{MedalSport | Women's modern pentathlon }}
{{MedalCountry | {{GBR2}} }}
{{MedalCompetition | Olympic Games }}
{{MedalBronze | 2000 Sydney | Individual }}
{{MedalCompetition | World Championships }}
{{MedalGold | 2001 Millfield | Team }}
{{MedalGold | 2001 Millfield | Relay }}
{{MedalGold | 2003 Pesaro | Team }}
{{MedalGold | 2004 Moscow | Team }}
{{MedalSilver | 2004 Moscow | Individual }}
{{MedalBronze | 1999 Budapest | Individual }}
{{MedalBronze | 2003 Pesaro | Individual }}
{{MedalCompetition | European Championships }}
{{MedalGold | 1997 Moscow | Individual }}
{{MedalBronze | 1999 Tampere | Individual }}
{{MedalCompetition | World Cup Final }}
{{MedalGold | 1998 Teplice | Individual }}
{{MedalGold | 2004 Darmstadt | Individual }}
{{MedalCompetition | Junior World Championships }}
{{MedalSilver | 1995 | Individual }}
{{MedalBronze | 1994 | Individual }}
}}
Katherine Fiona “Kate” Allenby MBE (born 16 March 1974) is a British modern pentathlete who competed in two Summer Olympics, taking the bronze medal at the 2000 Games and placing in 8th place in 2004. She has won medals at four World Championships, and after retiring from sport, she became a physical education teacher in Bath, England.
Early life
She was born in Tavistock, Devon,{{cite news |last=Hayward |first=Charlotte |title=How to win an Olympic medal |url=https://www.bbc.co.uk/devon/content/articles/2008/01/09/kate_allenby_olympics_feature.shtml |accessdate=30 June 2012 |newspaper=BBC Devon |date=11 March 2008}} but lived in Australia during her childhood.{{cite news |title=Kate Allenby: The winning ticket |url=http://www.abc.net.au/olympics/2004/profiles/kateallenby.htm |accessdate=30 June 2012 |newspaper=ABC}} Her father ran three London Marathons and played field hockey at the county level.{{cite news |last=Hubbard |first=Alan |title=The Interview: Kate Allenby – A modern daredevil rides out |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/the-interview-kate-allenby--a-modern-daredevil-rides-out-1105787.html |accessdate=30 June 2012 |newspaper=The Independent|location=London |date=11 July 1999}}
Allenby joined The Pony Club and began to compete in tetrathlon, which features all the same events as the modern pentathlon except for the fencing event. Her original inspiration for getting involved in athletics came from Sebastian Coe's victory in the men's 1500 metres at the 1980 Summer Olympics, and she dreamt of competing at the Olympics.{{cite web |title=Kate Allenby, Bronze medal winning pentathlete |url=http://www.teachitprimary.co.uk/index.php?currmenu=1513 |publisher=Teachit Primary |accessdate=30 June 2012}}
Career
She switched from tetrathlon to modern pentathlon at the age of sixteen after her father suggested she tried fencing. She won the bronze medal at the 1994 Junior World Championship, going one place better during the following year taking the silver medal. Although she initially trained part-time while working as a fitness consultant, she received National Lottery funding in 1997 enabling her to take up full-time training.
In the same year, she claimed her first senior major victory, with individual gold at the European Championships in Moscow. It was the first time in 15 years a British woman had won a major championship title. Allenby then confirmed her status as one of the leading women in her sport by winning her second major title in 1998 at the World Cup Final.
Whilst ranked as the world number three in her sport in 1999, she won the sporting section of the Cosmopolitan Woman of the Year Awards.{{cite web |title=Success for Local Athletes |url=http://www.windowonwoking.org.uk/sites/goldsworthparkcommunityassociation/archivemenu/historygpca/gphistorybrief/1999kateallenby |publisher=GP News |accessdate=30 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20150518074354/http://www.windowonwoking.org.uk/sites/goldsworthparkcommunityassociation/archivemenu/historygpca/gphistorybrief/1999kateallenby |archivedate=18 May 2015 }}
Competing for the British team at the 2000 Summer Olympics in Sydney, Allenby won a bronze medal in modern pentathlon with team-mate Steph Cook taking the gold. She decided to continue competing in order to represent Britain once more at the 2004 Summer Olympics.{{cite news |last=Fraser |first=Andrew |title=Road to Athens: Kate Allenby |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/modern_pentathlon/3594313.stm |accessdate=30 June 2012 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=5 April 2004}}
In 2001, she was part of the British Women's Team that achieved the unique feat of a clean sweep of gold medals in the sport's major championships.{{cite web |title=Results |website=Union Internationale de Pentathlon Moderne |url=http://www.pentathlon.org/events/results/}}{{full citation needed|date=December 2016}} Injury saw her miss the 2002 season but she returned to competition in time for the 2003 World Championships in Pesaro, Italy, where she won individual bronze, adding the individual silver medal at the following year's World Championships in Moscow.
At the 2004 Games in Athens she finished eighth in the Modern pentathlon competition.{{cite web |title=Kate Allenby |url=https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/al/kate-allenby-1.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200417172420/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/al/kate-allenby-1.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=17 April 2020 |publisher=Sports-Reference.com |accessdate=30 June 2012}} Having been in second place during the swimming event, an unfit horse saw her drop down in the rankings in the show jumping phase. After the final event, the 3000 metres, she congratulated her team-mate Georgina Harland who staged a comeback to take the bronze medal.{{cite news |title=Harland surges to bronze |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/olympics_2004/modern_pentathlon/3605556.stm |accessdate=30 June 2012 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=27 August 2004}}
Allenby ended her modern pentathlon career by winning her second World Cup Final title in Darmstadt, in her final competition. After retirement she continued to compete in fencing, becoming British champion in 2005. She retired completely from professional sport prior to the 2008 Summer Olympics. In 2009, she was one of a number of athletes to travel to Iraq to take place in a conference in the Kurdistan Autonomous Region in the hopes of kickstarting the sports policy in the area.{{cite news |title=Athlete heads for Iraq |url=http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Athlete-heads-Iraq/story-11338669-detail/story.html |accessdate=30 June 2012 |newspaper=This is Bath |date=23 April 2009}} She has continued to be involved with modern pentathlon.
When London became the host city for the 2012 Summer Olympics, Allenby was chosen to be the director of the fencing discipline for the modern pentathlon event at the Games. The fence element of ModPen was held at the "Copper Box" at Olympic Park, before handing over to the swim element at the Aquatics Centre, and then on to Greenwich Park for the ride, and combined run and shoot and finally the medals ceremony.
Personal life
While competing, she studied for a master's degree in Philosophy at the University of Surrey. After retiring from elite sport she retrained as a teacher and is currently teaching physical education at Paragon Junior School in Bath. She also is on the inspirational speakers circuit.{{cite news |title=Kate Allenby MBE to carry Olympic Torch through Bath on 22 May |url=http://www.thisisbath.co.uk/Kate-Allenby-MBE-carry-Olympic-Torch-Bath-22/story-16044582-detail/story.html |accessdate=30 June 2012 |newspaper=This is Bath |date=10 May 2012}}{{cite web |title=Kate Allenby |url=http://inspirationalspeakers.co.uk/kate-allenby/prod_485.html |publisher=Inspirationalspeakers.co.uk |accessdate=30 June 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}
She was awarded an MBE for services to sport in the 2008 New Year Honours List.{{cite news |title=New Year Honours for sports stars |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/front_page/7163068.stm |accessdate=30 June 2012 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=29 December 2007}} In 1997 she was voted onto the British Olympic Association athletes commission and became the first chair of the new British Athletes Commission in 2003.{{cite web |title=Kate Allenby |date=10 May 2011 |url=http://www.teambath.com/2011/05/10/kate-allenby/ |publisher=Team Bath |accessdate=30 June 2012 }}{{Dead link|date=March 2025 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }} She returned to the BOA Athletes Commission in the run up to the 2012 London Olympics and the Association nominated her to carry the Olympic torch in 2012; she carried it through Bath as part of the torch relay.
She lives in Limpley Stoke, Wiltshire.{{cite news |title=Kate Allenby MBE to Carry Torch |url=http://www.nowbath.co.uk/local-news/kate-allenby-mbe-to-carry-torch-43639/ |accessdate=30 June 2012 |newspaper=Now Bath |date=11 May 2012}}
References
;General
- {{cite web |title=Athlete Profile: Kate Allenby |url=http://www.pentathlon.org/component/uipm/athleteprofile/pentathlete/859-kate-allenby?q=/component/uipm/athleteprofile/pentathlete/859-kate-allenby |publisher=Pentathlon.org |accessdate=30 June 2012 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://archive.today/20130415171233/http://www.pentathlon.org/component/uipm/athleteprofile/pentathlete/859-kate-allenby?q=/component/uipm/athleteprofile/pentathlete/859-kate-allenby |archivedate=15 April 2013 }}
;Specific
{{reflist}}
External links
- {{UIPM|kate-allenby}}
- {{Team GB}}
- {{Olympics.com|kate-allenby}}
- {{Olympedia}}
- [http://www.teambath.com/ Team Bath website]
{{Authority control}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Allenby, Kate}}
Category:British female modern pentathletes
Category:Olympic modern pentathletes for Great Britain
Category:Olympic bronze medallists for Great Britain
Category:Olympic medalists in modern pentathlon
Category:Modern pentathletes at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Category:Modern pentathletes at the 2004 Summer Olympics
Category:Medalists at the 2000 Summer Olympics
Category:Sportspeople from Wiltshire
Category:Schoolteachers from Somerset
Category:Alumni of the University of Surrey
Category:Members of the Order of the British Empire