Eilidh Doyle

Eilidh Doyle (pronounced AY-lee /eɪli/; née Child; born 20 February 1987) is a British retired track and field athlete. Originally running as Eilidh Child, she specialised in the 400 metres hurdles outdoors, and the 400 metres flat indoors, as well as competing in the 4 × 400 metres relay on both surfaces. She represented Great Britain at the 2012 Olympic Games in London, and won an Olympic bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay at the 2016 Games in Rio de Janeiro. Individually, she is the 2014 European Champion and a three-time Commonwealth silver medalist (2010, 2014 and 2018) in the 400 metres hurdles.

In a career marked by consistency, longevity and a particular skill in relay running, in which she was twice a European Champion, Doyle is one of the few athletes to have won medals at every senior international championship theoretically available to her. With 17 medals from major championships, Doyle retired as the most decorated Scottish track and field athlete of all time. In addition to her European titles, and Olympic and Commonwealth Games medals, Doyle's honours include three World Championship relay medals (2013, 2015, and 2017), a World Athletics Relays medal in 2015, 2 Diamond League podiums, European Team Championships medals, a Continental Cup medal representing Europe, and individual medals in 400 metres in both World and European Indoor championships.

Doyle reached four global outdoor finals, with a 5th place finish at the World Championships her strongest placement. As of 31 December 2022, Doyle remained the Scottish record holder for the 400 metres hurdles with 54.09 sec (2016) and the indoor 400 metres with 51.45 sec (2013). Doyle is a seven-time British, four-time Scottish national champion at the time of her retirement.

Doyle was born Eilidh Child in Perth, Scotland on 20 February 1987. As a youngster, she twice won the U13 Scottish Schools butterfly swimming title. One of her sisters is a writer, the other used to compete at triple jump and her brother is a footballer.

In 2009, Child significantly improved her personal best for the 400 m hurdles from 56.84 to 55.32, to finish second at the European U23 Championships in Kaunas, Lithuania, behind fellow British athlete Perri Shakes-Drayton. She also qualified for that year's World Championships in Berlin, reaching the semi-finals. In 2010, she further improved to 55.16 at the London Diamond League in August. Then in October, she won a silver medal at the Commonwealth Games in Delhi in 55.62.

In 2012, Child ran below 55 seconds for the 400 metres hurdles for the first time, with 54.96 on 2 June in Geneva. Two weeks later, she earned Olympic selection, with 55.53 for second behind Shakes-Drayton at the Olympic trials. At the London Olympics, she reached the semi-finals, running 56.02.

She won two medals at the 2013 European Indoor Championships in Gothenburg, with silver in the 400 metres behind teammate Perri Shakes-Drayton, breaking the Scottish indoor record in the process, with 51.45. She then added a gold in the 4 × 400 m relay. The British quartet of Christine Ohuruogu, Shana Cox, Child, and Shakes-Drayton also improved the UK indoor record to 3:27.56. Outdoors, she broke the Scottish 400 metres hurdles record with 54.22 in Birmingham in June. Then in August, at the World Championships in Moscow, she ran 54.32 in her semi-final to reach the final. In the final she was fifth in 54.86. Alongside Cox, Margaret Adeoye and Ohuruogu, she won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay.

Child captained the first ever Scotland team at the Glasgow International match in January 2014. As captain of the GB & NI team at the 2014 World Indoor Championships in Sopot, she won a bronze medal in the 4 × 400 metres relay. 2014 also saw her secure her first 400 metres hurdles British title, and take victory at the first ever IAAF Diamond League meeting in Scotland, the Glasgow Grand Prix. in a European leading time of 54.39.