Philippa Roles

Philippa Kate Roles OLY (1 March 1978 – 21 May 2017) was a Welsh discus thrower who competed at two Olympic and four Commonwealth Games. Roles was British junior athlete of the year – an honour presented at Buckingham Palace. She was the first British discus thrower to medal at junior European level; and narrowly missed out on a medal at under 23 level, finishing 4th. She competed at the 2004 Summer Olympics in Athens and at the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing.

Born in Neath, she studied at Neath Port Talbot College from where she gained her degree, and was resident in London. Roles worked for the train operating company Southern as a train driver on services in South London. She represented Swansea Harriers at club level. Proudly Welsh, she was a popular member of Team Wales and Team GB due to her sense of humour and self-deprecating manner.^[1]

Her personal best throw was 62.89 metres, achieved in June 2003 in Loughborough. This placed her third on the British outdoor all-time list, behind Meg Ritchie and Venissa Head. It also ranked her in the World top 20.^[2]

On 16 July 2008, Roles appeared as Jonny Saunders' guest in the feature "Who's in the Locker, Cocker?" on Chris Evans Drivetime on BBC Radio 2.^{[citation needed]}

She was 5 ft 10 inches tall and weighed 88 kg.

Roles died suddenly and unexpectedly on 21 May 2017 aged 39.^[3][4]

International competitions

Year	Competition	Venue	Position	Notes
Representing  Great Britain and  Wales
1995	European Junior Championships	Nyíregyháza, Hungary	12th	44.84 m
1996	World Junior Championships	Sydney, Australia	16th (q)	46.48 m
1997	European Junior Championships	Ljubljana, Slovenia	3rd	50.62 m
1998	Commonwealth Games	Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia	6th	54.10 m
1999	Universiade	Palma de Mallorca, Spain	15th (q)	54.82 m
	European U23 Championships	Gothenburg, Sweden	4th	55.37 m
2001	Universiade	Beijing, China	6th	55.02 m
2002	Commonwealth Games	Manchester, England	4th	57.65 m
2004	Olympic Games	Athens, Greece	18th (q)	58.83 m
2006	Commonwealth Games	Melbourne, Australia	6th	58.38 m
2008	Olympic Games	Beijing, China	27th (q)	57.44 m
2010	Commonwealth Games	Delhi, India	4th	57.99 m

References

1. Skeels, Robert (19 June 2008). "Athletics: Euro role for Philippa". Neath Guardian. Retrieved 15 July 2008.
2. UK All-Time Lists: Women - Throws - GBR Athletics
3. "Welsh discus thrower Roles, 39, dies". BBC Sport. 22 May 2017.
4. Roles Philippa: Obituary

External links

• Philippa Roles at World Athletics
• Philippa Roles at the British Olympic Association