Lynsey Sharp is a British track and field athlete who competes in the 800 metres.
Background
Lynsey Sharp was born in Dumfries, United Kingdom and lived her early life in nearby Lochmaben. She is the daughter of former Scottish athletes Cameron Sharp and Carol Sharp (née Lightfoot). Her father won a 1982 European silver medal in the 200 m and competed at the 1980 Olympic Games, while her mother has an 800 m best of 2:02.91 and competed at the 1982 Commonwealth Games.
She has said she was inspired to study law after her father fought a medical negligence case following permanent injuries he sustained in a road crash.
Education
She graduated with a 2:1 in Law (Bachelor of Laws) from Edinburgh Napier University in 2012 a few weeks before competing in the London Olympics.
Career
Her personal best is 1:57.71, the third fastest time over 800m by a British woman. Sharp went to The Mary Erskine School in Edinburgh. As a teenager, Sharp competed at the IAAF World Youth Championships and IAAF World Junior Championships.
In 2011, she improved her 800 m personal best by almost four seconds.
In June, she took her best down from 2:04.44, to 2:02.48 in Watford then 2:01:98 in Prague. This would be upgraded to silver, after the 2013 disqualification of Yelena Arzhakova.
Sharp only had the B standard, while four other British women had the A standard, an injured Jenny Meadows and three athletes who Sharp had defeated at the Olympic trials. The selectors decided to pick Sharp and leave behind athletes including Meadows and Marilyn Okoro.
At the Olympics, she ran 2:01.41 in her heat to qualify for the semi-finals, where she finished seventh in 2:01.78, failing to reach the final.
In April 2013, her European silver was upgraded to gold after abnormalities were found in Yelena Arzhakova"s biological passport. Arxhakova was stripped of both her 2012 European title and 2011 European U23 title. Sharp was finally presented with the gold medal at the Emirates arena, during the Glasgow indoor international meeting in March 2014.
At the end of the 2013 season Sharp had surgery on her ankle which became infected resulting in her competing throughout the 2014 season against medical advice with an open wound in her foot.
In July 2014, Sharp ran under two minutes in the 800 m for the first time, running 1:59.67 at the Diamond League meeting in Lausanne. The night before the Commonwealth 800 m final, Sharp suffered stomach cramps and sickness and had to be placed on a drip at the Poly-clinic at the Athletes" Village until 5.30 am on the morning of the race.
Sharp"s performance was hailed as "a miracle run".