Kate Staples

{{Infobox sportsperson

| name = Kate Staples

| honorific_suffix = MBE

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| nationality = British (English)

| sport = Athletics

| event = Pole Vault

| club = Essex Ladies AC

| birth_name = Katharine Joanna Staples

| birth_date = {{Birth date and age|1965|11|02|df=y}}

| birth_place = Westminster, London, England

| death_date =

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}}

Katharine Joanna Staples (born 2 November 1965) is a British female former pole vaulter.[http://trackfield.brinkster.net/Profile.asp?ID=3863&Gender=W Katherine Staples]. Track and Field Statistics. Retrieved 2018-03-14. In 1992, she became the first British woman to vault over three metres.{{cite web|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/staples=vaulting-under-the-sign-of-zodiac-1569701.html |work=the Independent |title=Staples vauulting under the sign of Zodiac |date=25 January 1995 |accessdate=13 March 2018}}

Biography

Born in Westminster, London,[http://www.gladiatorstv.com/gladiators/classic-itv/zodiac/ Zodiac (Kate Staples)]. Gladiators TV. Retrieved 2018-03-14. Staples went on to win the 1993 UK Championships, the AAA Championships three times (1993,{{cite news |url=https://www.britishnewspaperarchive.co.uk/viewer/bl/0002192/19930717/026/0026 |title=Panasonic AAA Championships |work=Sports Argus |date=17 July 1993 |via=British Newspaper Archive |url-access=subscription |access-date=31 March 2025 }} 1994, 1996),{{cite web|url=https://www.nuts.org.uk/Champs/AAA/index.htm |title=AAA, WAAA and National Championships Medallists |website=National Union of Track Statisticians |access-date=31 March 2025}}{{cite web|url=http://www.gbrathletics.com/bc/waaa.htm |title=AAA Championships (women) |website=GBR Athletics |access-date=31 March 2025 }} and the AAA Indoor Championships three times (1994, 1995, 1996), and broke the British record more than 25 times, peaking at 3.90 metres on 26 May 1996 (she cleared an unofficial 3.90 m in June 1995).

She is also known for her role as Zodiac in the ITV series Gladiators, from 1993 to 1996.{{cite web|url=http://www.gladiatorstv.com/gladiators/classic-itv/zodiac/ |work=Gladiators |title=Zodiac |accessdate=13 March 2018}} She had a daughter, Gabriella, with fellow Gladiators performer Mark Griffin.

She later married Chris Sheasby, an England rugby union international, and the couple had two children, but separated in 2011 and divorced in 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://www.mirror.co.uk/3am/celebrity-news/gladiators-star-zodiac-divorces-former-7211022|title=Gladiators star Zodiac divorces former rugby player husband Chris Sheasby|first=Rebecca|last=Pocklington|date=20 January 2016|website=mirror|accessdate=12 February 2020}}

In 2025, Staples was awarded an MBE for "services to the promotion of Sport and Fitness".{{Cite web |title=The King's Birthday Honours List 2025 |url=https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/the-kings-birthday-honours-list-2025 |access-date=2025-06-19 |website=GOV.UK |language=en}}