Philippa Roles


Philippa Kate Roles OLY was a Welsh discus thrower who competed at two Olympic and four Commonwealth Games. Philippa was the first athlete, in any event, to win a AAA's gold medal at every age group, and was British junior athlete of the year - an honour presented at Buckingham Palace. Philippa 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. In spite of a serious knee injury Philippa was one of the best performing British track and field athletes at the 2004 Athens Olympic Games, finishing 16th in the discus.
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 servicing 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 no-nonsense, self-deprecating manner and great sense of humour.
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, and unprecedented ranking for a British discus thrower.
On 16 July 2008, Philippa appeared as Jonny Saunders' guest in the feature "Who's in the Locker, Cocker?" on Chris Evans Drivetime on BBC Radio 2.
She was 5 ft 10 inches tall and weighed 88 kg.
Roles died suddenly and unexpectedly at home on 21 May 2017 aged 39. One of the greats of British throwing.

International competitions