Non Evans
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| Date of birth | 20 June 1974 | ||||||||||||||||
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| Place of birth | Swansea, Wales | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.6 m (5 ft 3 in) | ||||||||||||||||
| Weight | 58 kg (9 st 2 lb) | ||||||||||||||||
| Rugby union career | |||||||||||||||||
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Non Evans
Evans is notable for being the first person to compete in two separate sports at the same Commonwealth games and for later becoming the first woman to compete in three sports at multiple games. In rugby union, she is the world's all-time leading points scorer and Wales' top try scorer in either women's or men's internationals.
Early life
Evans was brought up in
Judo, weightlifting and wrestling
"I used to do clean and jerks and snatch, and one day someone came up to me and said, “You’re lifting a lot of weight, there. How much do you weigh?”. And I said, “About 57, 58 kilograms”. I was lifting way over my body weight and he said, “You’ll probably qualify for the Commonwealth Games if you went to the Welsh Championships”, and, being a competitive person, I thought, “Well, I’ve nothing to lose”. So I went to the Welsh Championships and won it, went to the British Championships and won it, and qualified for the Commonwealth Games in Manchester. But it was difficult in Manchester, because I was doing the judo and the weightlifting. Doing two sports in one Games is one of the hardest things I’ve had to do, but I wasn’t going to give up the opportunity to lift for my country and fight for my country, so I did it."
Evans, on how she came to compete at two separate sports at the Manchester games in 2002.[3]
At 16, Evans became the youngest competitor at the Commonwealth Judo Championships, going on to win silver medals at the 1992 and 1996 Championships. Evans would also compete at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.
The 2002 Commonwealth Judo Championships were held as an official competition in the Commonwealth Games for the first time in twelve years, and Evans was expected to represent Wales in
Evans achievement is all the more notable as the two events were held on consecutive days (31 July and 1 August), and her weightlifting qualifying weight was under 63 kg while her judo qualifying weight was 57 kg. Evans has stated that her training for the weightlifting led to weight gain, which would necessitate severe dieting and dehydrating to meet the lower weight for Judo. At the event, Evans weighed in at 56.1 kilos and competed in the Judo event for the rest of the day. Overnight, Evans added nearly five kilos of weight, to get to 62.8 kg at the next morning's weigh in. Evans has since described competing in the two events as "one of the hardest things I’ve had to do" adding that it took her months to recover from the rapid change in weight.[3]
In 2010 Evans took up yet another sport in Wrestling, winning the Welsh Wrestling Championship at her first attempt and taking the silver medal at the British Wrestling Championships in the under-59 kg class. Later that year, Evans was named as captain of the Welsh Wrestling team for the 2010 Commonwealth Games in Delhi, on the same day she was also named as part of the Wales rugby squad for the 2010 World Cup. At Delhi, Evans became the first female athlete in the history of the Commonwealth games to compete in three separate sports.[4]
Rugby
Evans made her debut for
Although her preferred position was fullback, Evans wide range of skills saw her play in positions across the back line, she has also represented Wales in touch rugby and rugby sevens. Evans became both a prolific try scorer and goal kicker for the national team, scoring 64 International tries and kicking a further 169 points. As such Evans holds the record for most international tries for Wales in either men's and women's rugby, as well as being the world's leading points scorer and leading try scorer in Women's international rugby.[3]
Media work
On 18 October 1997, Evans competed in the
Personal life
As well as her media work, Evans has worked as a medical representative for a pharmaceutical company and as a fitness and health coach.
References
- ^ Western Mail 29 June 2014 Non Evans comes clean - 40 and proud of it! [1]
- ^ "BBC Sport - Wrestling - Non Evans wants Commonwealth Games wrestling spot". news.bbc.co.uk. 21 April 2010. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ^ a b c d e "Welsh Interview with the sportswoman Non Evans". People's Collection Wales. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
- ^ Lloyd, Matt (17 July 2010). "Non Evans makes Commonwealth Games history". Express.co.uk. Retrieved 21 August 2017.
- ^ Williams, Tryst (29 June 2014). "Non Evans comes clean - 40 and proud of it!". Retrieved 5 October 2023.
- ^ "No. 59808". The London Gazette (Supplement). 11 June 2011. p. 16.
- ^ Moore, Matt (18 July 2020). "Welsh sportswoman Non Evans comes out as gay". Gay Times. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
- ^ Evans, Non. "Please don't judge me I am Gay. Sorry taken me 30 years to say that x". Twitter.com. Retrieved 5 October 2023.
External links
- Non Evans at IMDb
- 2010 Women's RWC Profile
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