Hansen was born in Evansville, Indiana, and was adopted by academic English and Ghanaian parents when she was three months old, and lived in Ghana before immigrating to Britain when she was eight, where she suffered from racism at school in London's East End. Her adoptive father died when she was 15, in a hit-and-run accident.

She holds the women's world indoor triple jump record, set in 1998 and came fourth in the 1996 Atlanta Olympics.

She plans to trace her birth family, but not until she has retired from athletic competition.

References

"Pass Notes, no. 1178: Ashia Hansen," The Guardian [London], 3 March 1998, p. 3
Knight, Tom. "Hopping Mad, Stepping out and Jumping for Joy," Highlife, October 1998, pp. 151-52, 154
Fordyce, Tom. "The World at Her Feet," HotLine: The Complimentary Magazine for Virgin Trains Passengers, Issue 9 (Winter 1999-2000), p. 26-29
Carolissen, Enver. "Ashia Hansen." [Includes portrait]. Available at: http://www.british-athletics.co.uk/album/ashiahan.htm

Indexes

African
Ghana
Uk/great Britain
USA
20th Century
21st Century
Sports
Formal, American/European-Type Adoption
Birth or Infancy
Unmarried Mother, Single Parent (Mother or Father) Unable to Cope
Others ("Strangers")
Unmarried Mother
Adoptee/Fosteree Not Interested in Tracing