Ten out of eleven

Louise Kneen

Louise's profile picture on the official website of the 2005 Island Games in Shetland

By far the most experienced athlete in this year’s Isle of Man team is thrower Louise Kneen. In the 2011 Island Games she will become only the third Isle of Man athlete to compete in ten or more Games, drawing level with Chris Quine and one behind Andy Fox. Having made her debut as a 16 year old in Aland in 1991, Louise has missed only one Island Games since - ironically that was the 2009 event which was also in Aland. During her long Island Games career Louise has competed in all four throwing disciplines, not to mention the high jump on her debut in 1991!

In that Aland event twenty years ago Louise had a busy week, finishing tenth in the shot and high jump and eleventh in the javelin. She is the only member of this year’s Isle of Man team to have competed the last time the Isle of Wight hosted the Games in 1993, and she showed that she was a rapidly improving athlete with an excellent sixth place in the discus. By the time the 1995 Games in Gibraltar came round, Louise was a well established member of the team who was in a position to challenge for medals, and she did just that in three different events. She was fifth in the javelin, and fourth in both the shot and the discus. In the latter event she missed out on the bronze medal by just a few centimetres in an exciting competition.

In Jersey in 1997, the women’s hammer event was introduced to the Island Games for the first time, and this meant that Louise was even busier than usual as she contested all four throwing events. Her best performance was again in the discus, in which she took another fourth place finish less than a metre behind the bronze medallist. She threw 34.80 metres, which remains the best discus throw of her Island Games career to date. It was the same story in Gotland in 1999, where Louise completed a hat-trick of fourth places in the discus, this time finishing less than half a metre behind the bronze medallist. She also recorded her first throw of over ten metres in the shot, finishing in sixth place but not too far behind the bronze medallist in a very close contest.

Having come so close to a coveted medal so many times, Louise’s time finally came in the 2001 Games, and - like London buses - after waiting so long for one, two arrived together! Louise produced two terrific performances to land bronze medals in both the shot and the discus, and to achieve this in her home Games made it even sweeter for a proud Manxie. Her throw of 11.68m in the shot is the best of her Games career so far. She also finished in a respectable sixth place in the hammer. Onto 2003 in Guernsey, and Louise added two more fourth places to her growing collection. Her performances in both the shot and the discus were excellent, and again she was very close to the bronze medal in the latter event.

Louise is pictured by Ian Astin whilst competing in the shot putt event in Rhodes in 2007

By this stage of her career Louise was a highly experienced and consistent performer, and in a cold and damp Games in Shetland in 2005 she produced perhaps the best set of throws of her Island Games career. She added two more fourth places in the discus and hammer, but the highlight of her week was her performance in the shot which earned her the first silver medal of her career to add to the two bronzes she won in 2001. Conditions in Rhodes for Louise’s ninth successive Games were the polar opposite of those in Shetland, and she put in three more fine performances to finish fifth in the discus and seventh in the shot and hammer.

Louise’s run of consecutive Island Games ended in 2009 when she missed out on a return to Aland due to injury. It must have been galling for her to see from the results that had she been fit she would have had a great chance of winning the gold medal in the shot, in which the standard dropped in comparison with the previous few Games. Louise returns to the team in 2011 for her tenth Games, and despite an injury scare a few weeks ago she will be looking to add to her proud Island Games record in the shot and discus events.

As well as being a quality athlete, Louise puts a huge amount back into the sport. She is a long-time Committee member of Western AC and works tremendously hard in coaching young athletes, organising club trips to compete off-island, and generally playing a big part in every type of event organised by the club. Her experience and coaching skills have been invaluable to the other throwers in the team in the build up to this year’s Games, and her return to the team is most welcome. I hope she has an enjoyable and successful week in the Isle of Wight.