Yvette Baker

Yvette Baker is Britain’s most successful orienteer.

An outstanding junior, she was a member of the British relay team at the World Orienteering Championships (WOC) in 1983 when she was only 15. She went on to compete at the highest level in her sport for nearly two decades.

In 1990 she won the World Universities Championships. In the same year she took gold at the prestigious Nordic Open Championships, an event where she would go on to win a silver (1999) and two bronzes (1992 and 1993). In World Cup events, she won 12 individual medals, including three golds as well as two top-three placings in the overall standings.

In 1993 she won Britain’s first World Championships medal when she took the bronze in the long event. At the World Championships two years later, she won silver medals in both the short and the long races. In 1999 at Inverness came the crowning point of her career when she took the world championship title by winning the short event – and thus became the first GB orienteer to claim this ultimate prize. A year later, she followed this success with another global medal, taking bronze at the European Championships.

Yvette was awarded her Blue in 1986/87 and twice won the Eva Bailey Cup (best female sports performer): in 1988/89 and 1989/90.