Mary Rand, the primary British girl to win an Olympic track-and-field gold medal, has died on the age of 86.
Mary Rand, the primary British girl to safe an Olympic track-and-field gold medal, has died on the age of 86. Rand captured the lengthy soar title in Tokyo in 1964, shattering the British and Olympic data together with her opening try of 6.59 metres and continuing to interrupt the world report with a soar of 6.76m.
She additionally claimed silver within the inaugural girls’s pentathlon and bronze as a part of the 4x100m relay squad in Japan, turning into the primary British girl to safe three medals at a single Olympic Video games. In a submit on X, UK Athletics mentioned they had been “saddened to listen to of the dying of Olympic, European and Commonwealth champion Mary Rand, on the age of 86”.
UK Athletics added: “She turned the primary British girl to win three medals at a single Olympic Video games at Tokyo 1964 and blazed a path for girls within the sport.”
Rand, whose first husband was British rower Sydney – with the pair having a daughter, Alison, who was two years previous on the time of her Olympic triumph – proceeded to say lengthy soar gold on the 1966 Commonwealth Video games in Jamaica.
Damage, nonetheless, prevented her Olympic title defence and she or he didn’t make the squad in 1968, retiring in September of that yr, aged simply 28.
Rand was voted BBC Sports activities Persona of the Yr in 1964 and was made an MBE within the 1965 New Yr Honours.
All through her profession, she secured 12 nationwide titles throughout lengthy soar, excessive soar, dash hurdles and pentathlon. Ann Packer, who claimed Olympic 800m gold in 1964 and shared a room with Rand in Tokyo, hailed her as “essentially the most gifted athlete I ever noticed”.
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In 1969, Rand wed her second husband, American Invoice Toomey, the 1968 Olympic decathlon champion, and relocated to america. The couple remained collectively for 22 years, elevating two daughters, Samantha and Sarah.
Rand subsequently married John Reese and continued to make her life within the US, initially settling in California earlier than later shifting to Nevada.
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