Bell-Gam and her twin sister, Bella, were born in Opobo Town, Rivers State in 1956. They would both become athletes. They attended the Government Primary School in Afikpo, the Methodist School, Uwani in the state of Enugu and the Union Secondary School, Ikot Ekpene . The girls were in Enugu when the Nigerian Civil War started in 1967 and they moved south to Nnewi. At the end of the war, Bell-Gam returned to school in Ikot Ekpene.[2] Among her first international honours was a silver medal in the 100 m hurdles at the 1977 West African Games, finishing second on home turf behind her compatriot Modupe Oshikoya.[3]
Judy Bell-Gam won the gold medal in the 100 m hurdles at the African Games in 1978 in Algiers in a time of 13.67 s, ahead of Ugandan Ruth Kyalisima and her twin sister Bella Bell-Gam.[4] At the African Athletics Championships in Dakar in 1979, she ran 14.13 s in the same discipline in front of her sister and the Moroccan Fatima El Faquir and received the gold medal.[5] Subsequently, at the 1979 IAAF World Cup in Montreal she ran the 100 n hurdles in 13.93 and was seventh.[6] She was also the winner of the hurdles at the All-Africa University Games that year.[7]
