At 61, Fatima Whitbread is twice the age of some of her fellow recruits on Channel 4 ’s Celebrity SAS: Who Dares Wins – and she is relishing the chance to change the opinion of anyone who expected her to struggle.
“I want to prove this old biddy’s still got it,” she said as she took up the challenge.
And it didn’t take long. Before the first show was over, the former world title-holding javelin thrower had been declared “a legend” by tough instructor Rudy Reyes.
As Fatima talks to us about the series, it’s clear she’s proud of her achievements and the role she took in the group, which included EastEnders star Maisie Smith, footballer Ashley Cain and reality star Calum Best.
“I wanted to do this show because it was a great opportunity to check in on myself and see where I was in my life,” she says.
“But it was one of the toughest processes I’ve been through, as well as the biggest challenge. I loved every minute. I shouldn’t have, but I did.”
Having performed at Olympic level, her strength and attitude quickly proved an asset to the team.
“None of us knew what to expect,” Fatima said. “But having been a top-flight athlete, I’m used to being punished. I punish myself all the time and train exceptionally hard. It’s not just the physical, I’m also aware of the importance of mental preparation. These sorts of battles are won or lost in the application of the mind.
“I’m probably a tougher cookie in that way than most. So it was nice to share some of those strengths, and weaknesses, with these young people. It was a great chance to show an older person can still thrive in a situation like that.”
Fatima won bronze at the 1984 Olympics, silver in the 1988 Olympics and gold at the World Championships in 1987. But her story started in North London in 1961. Born Fatima Vedad, she was abandoned by her Turkish Cypriot mother as a baby and brought up in care.
At school, she discovered sport and her talent for the javelin was spotted at a local athletics club.
It brought Fatima not only a new calling in life but a new family. She was adopted by her coach, teacher Margaret Whitbread, and her family when she was 15.
“Sport was my saviour,” she says. “I had a tremendous amount of trauma in my early years and anyone who has had trauma will know that you have to learn to work alongside it, as it never leaves you. It was sport that guided me to do the best I could and made me feel positive about myself and confident about my abilities.
“I’d had to be that steely little girl in the children’s home. I used that to become a world-beater in athletics and now I’ve turned that around again when I’m doing the SAS challenge.”
Fatima says she and tough-guy instructor Rudy opened up about being in care during filming. “It was a poignant moment for us,” says Fatima. “We’re both in different fields in life but you’re united by this same experience.”
Fatima retired from athletics in 1992, marrying athletics promoter Andrew Norman in 1997.
Their son, Ryan, was born a year later.
For years after, Fatima remained in the sport sector running a marketing business, looking after athletes including Steve Cram and Colin Jackson while also scouting for new talent – helping discover the likes of Kelly Holmes and Iwan Thomas. “I’ve been around the track a few times,” she says of her career.
She divorced Andrew in 2006 and his death the next year left her struggling. So Fatima took up the I’m A Celebrity challenge in 2011. And true to form, she faced it head-on – quite literally, when she had to have a cockroach removed from up her nostril during one task.
She says, “In SAS you’re actively involved on a daily basis, whereas in I’m A Celeb you’re often not put up for the challenges.
“If you are, it’s about how daring you are. Whether you’ll eat the funny things or if – like me – if you panic when there’s the cockroach up your nose.
I did love both shows, in different ways.”
Since then, she’s graced our screens in other reality and quiz shows. “Reality TV was good for me and came at the right time,” she says.
“It gave me a way to earn a living while I was keen to be around for my boy going through schooling.”
Fatima boogied in Let’s Dance For Comic Relief in 2012 (“I’m no Sugar Plum Fairy,” she laughs) and took an emotional journey on The Sultan’s Trail for Pilgrimage in 2020, visiting the land of her parents for the first time.
These days, she’s in a position to pick and choose her offers. “I still need to work and I still like to work,” she says. “But I don’t do everything thrown at me. If I do something, it’s usually because it means something to me. I have an immense amount of character when it comes to being adventurous.”
In fact, Fatima has just started her next adventure – a charity mountain climb with Ryan. “We’re climbing Mont Blanc,” she reveals. “I’m raising funds for Action For Children.”
While many twentysomething lads may not have mountain climbing with their mum at the top of their holiday list, it’s clear Ryan – who Fatima calls “her proudest achievement” – shares a special relationship with her.
“We’re very close,” she says. “He’s a great young man. He works in the City. Being a mum was so important, because as a child I didn’t have a mum. And I feel that sometimes in life, an issue repeats itself, and I wanted to break that and be a good parent. I ended up being a single parent when my son was nine. But that made me determined to do the best I could. I want to be a good parent and be there.”
Fatima now lives near Brentwood in Essex and while she’s no longer involved in athletics in a professional capacity, old habits die hard.
“I’ve never stopped training,” she says. “I do something pretty much every day. I’ve always felt it’s good for me. It helps my mental state and that’s part of my learning and my wellness. I love to do puzzles as well. And I love a bit of gardening.”
Fatima was undoubtedly the most famous female UK athlete of her generation and she has watched with interest the rise of women’s sports in recent years, culminating in the Lionesses’ win in the Women’s Euros this year. “It’s fantastic,” she says.
“We’ve always had great women in athletics through the years but it’s great to see women doing well in other sports – cycling, football. Hopefully there’s a whole new generation coming through.
“It’s great to see women now out there being so fit and healthy and doing their thing. It might upset some of the men a little bit, but never mind.”
