Strong's first major championship was the 1978 Commonwealth Games, in Edmonton, Canada where she got the silver medal.

[3] With the eastern European countries absent through a boycott at the 1984 Olympics in Los Angeles, Strong went into the 100 metres hurdles event as a favourite.

In the years following Los Angeles, Strong was frequently troubled by problems with her achilles tendon and failed to qualify for the 1986 Commonwealth Games.

At the height of her career Strong was among the most popular athletes in the UK among a public who regarded her as "one of us", and even admitted to having an occasional cigarette after a race.

Any performance achieved with a following wind of more than +2.0 m/s is regarded as wind-assisted and does not count for record purposes.