Najuma Fletcher

Najuma Fletcher
Personal information
NationalityGuyanese
Born (1974-05-31) 31 May 1974 (age 50)
Height1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Weight59 kg (130 lb)
Sport
SportAthletics
Event(s)High jump, Heptathlon

Najuma "Nancy" Fletcher (born 31 May 1974) is a former Guyanese track and field athlete.

As a 16 year old, she placed fourth in the high jump at the 1990 Central American and Caribbean Games.[1] She competed in the women's high jump at the 1992 Summer Olympics.[2][3] Fletcher finished sixth in the heptathlon at the 1994 Commonwealth Games.

She attended and competed for the University of Pittsburgh.[4] In 2019, she was inducted into the Pitt Athletics Hall of Fame as one of the most decorated athletes in the university's history. From 1992-96, she earned 14 first-team All-America citations and was a six-time Big East champion and was the first woman in Pitt history to win an individual NCAA track and field title when she captured the 1995 indoor triple jump. In 1996, she added the NCAA indoor high jump championship. In academics, she was named the 1996 Big East Scholar-Athlete of the Year.[5][6]

Her husband, Brett Shields, was a part of the school record-holding sprint hurdle relay team. They have two children. Their daughter, Mikayla Shields, played on the University of South Carolina volleyball team.[7] Her brother, Don Fletcher played basketball for Guyana.[8]

  1. ^ Charwayne Walker. "Letter to the Sports Editor…Najuma Fletcher – The story of Guyana's most successful youth athlete". www.kaieteurnewsonline.com. Retrieved 4 February 2019.
  2. ^ Evans, Hilary; Gjerde, Arild; Heijmans, Jeroen; Mallon, Bill; et al. "Najuma Fletcher Olympic Results". Olympics at Sports-Reference.com. Sports Reference LLC. Archived from the original on 18 April 2020. Retrieved 2 January 2018.
  3. ^ "Najuma FLETCHER - Olympic Athletics | Guyana". International Olympic Committee. 16 December 2020. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  4. ^ Janet Woolum (1998). Outstanding Women Athletes: Who They are and how They Influenced Sports in America. Greenwood Publishing Group. pp. 373–. ISBN 978-1-57356-120-4.
  5. ^ "Friday, September 20 - Hall of Fame". pittsburghpanthers.com. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  6. ^ "Panther, Olympian, Hall of Famer". Pitt Panthers #H2P. 12 August 2019. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  7. ^ Athletics, Gamecock (26 September 2016). "Shields Paving Her Own Path to Success for Gamecock Volleyball". Medium. Retrieved 16 December 2020.
  8. ^ "Was Don Fletcher's talent overshadowed because of the brilliance of Wyles and Semple?". Kaieteur News. 21 April 2013. Retrieved 16 December 2020.