Background
Baker was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England and was a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers.
Baker was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, England and was a member of the Coventry Godiva Harriers.
In Los Angeles, she finished fifth in the final. In 1981, at the European Junior Championships, she finished fifth in the final in 2:07.39.
She represented Great Britain at the Olympic Games in Los Angeles 1984 and Barcelona 1992. At the 1984 Los Angeles Olympics, Baker was the only British representative in the women"s 800 metres. She excelled herself by reaching the final, placing fifth in a personal best of 2:00.03, just failing to break the two-minute barrier.
Having come close to breaking the two-minute barrier on a number of occasions, Baker at last succeeded at the Crystal Palace, London in July 1986, when she ran 1:59.99.
This made her only the fourth British woman in history to run sub 2 minutes for the 800 metres, after Christina Boxer (1979), Shireen Bailey (1983) and Kirsty McDermott (1985). Two weeks later at the European Championships in Stuttgart, she reached the semi-finals and ran 2:02.03.
In Auckland, she finished fifth in the final in 2:01.77. She continued as one of Britains most consistent 800 metre women for the next two years.
At the 1991 World Championships in Tokyo, she reached the semi finals running 2:01.32.
In 1992, she qualified for her second Olympics. In the heats of the Barcelona Games, she ran her best time for six years, with 2:00.50, to reach the semi-finals, where she ran 2:02.17. Barcelona proved to be the conclusion of her international career.
Throughout her career, Baker placed second or third 15 times at senior national championships, without ever winning.
At the AAAs National Championships, she was second three times (1981, 1986, 1991), at the United Kingdom Championships she was second three times (1982, 1983, 1992) and at the AAAs Indoors, she was second twice (1981, 1987). As of 2015, her best (1:5967) ranks 16th on the United Kingdom all-time list.
Her best as a junior (2:0166 in Oslo 1982) still ranks fourth on the United Kingdom Under 20 all-time list.