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British athletics correspondent Vikki Orvice passes away aged 56

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The sporting world is today (6) mourning the loss of Vikki Orvice, the brilliant athletics correspondent of British newspaper The Sun, who died this morning after a long and incredibly brave battle against cancer at the age of 56.

One of the foremost leaders of women in sports journalism in Great Britain and a mentor to many young female journalists in the industry, Vikki had a front row seat for some of the greatest moments of track and field over the past two decades.

Her first Olympic Games was in Sydney 2000, she was present for all of Usain Bolt’s Olympic and world championships gold medals and last summer, she was providing her usual dispatches of superb words from the European Athletics Championships in Berlin.

In 2012, she was present for the greatest moment in the history of British athletics when Team GB won three gold medals in 44 minutes on what became known as Super Saturday at the London Olympics.

First it was Jessica Ennis-Hill in the heptathlon, then it was Greg Rutherford in the long jump and then it was Mo Farah in the 10,000m.

Among the array of tributes, Ennis-Hill’s coach Toni Minichiello tweeted: “Very sorry to hear this news @vikkiorvice was the nicest most knowledgeable and supportive athletics journalists I’ve had the privilege to work with when she was covering @J_Ennis my thoughts are with her family today.”

Ennis-Hill herself tweeted: 'She was such a genuinely lovely woman. I feel really lucky to have spent so much time with her over the years of my athletic career. Lots of great memories and she will be truly missed. A very sad day. Thinking of you and your family.'

Paula Radcliffe, whose European 10,000m record at the 2002 European Championships in Munich was covered by Vikki, also paid tribute.

European Athletics sends its condolences to Vikki’s husband Ian and all of her family.




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