Hayley Tullett shocked everyone when she won a bronze medal at the 2003 World Athletics Championships.

Everyone bar herself.

The Swansea Harrier travelled to Paris as an outsider in the 1500 metres. Most pundits felt simply reaching the final should be the limit of her expectations.

Tullett was one of two Britons to qualify for the final along with Jo Pavey.

As the race entered its final 100 metres, Tullett made her bid, timing her break to perfection and accelerating down the home straight to clinch third place.

The time of three minutes 59.95 seconds smashed her personal best and saw her become one of just three British women to dip below the four-minute mark.

Tullett — who combined her athletics career with a full-time job as a PE teacher — had along with Kelly Holmes been at the forefront of British women's middle-distance running in the late 1990s and early part of this century.

But her best chance of a medal on the world stage seemed to have disappeared at the Sydney Olympics. She had qualified for the final in such smooth style that some were tipping her for a place on the podium.

But the race was to end in disaster as she tripped and fell on the second lap.

Tullett was not at her best in the following two seasons, though she did claim silver at the 2002 Commonwealth Games in Manchester.

She gained her second Commonwealth medal when claiming bronze in the 1500 metres at the Commonwealth Games in Melbourne in 2006.