The first British Olympic gold medalist in athletics, who made history at the 1964 Tokyo Games, has died at the age of 86.
While others had followed, Mary Rand was the first.
Britain’s original “golden girl”, who has died aged 86, became her country’s first Olympic track and field champion at the 1964 Tokyo Games. He did it in some style, breaking the world record in the long jump in the process, before winning a silver medal in the pentathlon and a bronze medal for Team Britain in those same 100 games.
She was the trailblazer who led the way for many, from Tokyo gold medalist Ann Packer to Mary Peters, Sally Gunnell, Denise Lewis, Kelly Holmes, Christine Ohurugu, Jess Ennis-Hill and Keeley Hodgkinson.
Rand arrived in Tokyo in 1960 after a disappointing Games, but he was one of the brightest stars in the Japanese capital. Speaking AW: In 2022 and recalling the final of the Olympic long jump, where he won the gold medal with a jump of 6.76m, which would become a world record for four years, he said:
“I didn’t know until many years later that I was jumping against the wind and that my five jumps beat the Olympic record. Irena Kirzenstein, who won seven Olympic medals and was a phenomenal athlete, was right behind me jumping and I had to wait for her and some Germans in the last round.
“At that moment I didn’t even know I had the world record. I didn’t know if I could keep it up or not because the others were really great athletes. They could really pull one out of the bag. So I was stressed for a while. I couldn’t believe it when I found out I won.
“I was also very excited for my parents because four years before that they sat down and did an interview and they all thought I was going to win in Rome. Of course it all went wrong and four years later my father was still alive to see me win a gold medal. It was like icing on the cake.
For his 80th birthday, former AW editor Mel Whatman wrote an in-depth article on Rand’s career. A brief version is below.
Born in Somerset, Wales on February 10, 1940, Mary Binall, as then, first came to attention while on a sports scholarship at Millfield School.
Many successes followed, including British records and a Commonwealth medal for the long jump, and at the 1960 Olympics he was talked about as a possible gold medalist in the long jump. In Rome he topped the qualifying round with a British record of 6.33m, only to finish ninth in the final later that day with 6.01m. The gold medal was won by 6.37 m, the silver by 6.27 m. The problem was Rand was fouling his first two jumps.
His confidence shattered, he re-measured his run but it did little good and he failed to qualify for three more jumps.
In 1962, just four months after the birth of her first daughter, Alison, Rand made a remarkable comeback by winning the bronze medal at the European Long Jump Championships. In 1963 she enjoyed a stellar season that included a world record (along with Madeleine Weston, Daphne Arden and Dorothy Hyman) of 45.2 for the 4x110y relay, a 6.44m long jump (the official world record at the time was 6.53m by Tatiana Shchelkanova, 6.53m from USA Records of 800) and the 8080th British record. British records in the pentathlon in 4712 and 4726.
His annus mirabilis, however, was 1964. He hardly put a foot wrong all summer, which began with a 4847 at the Somerset Pentathlon Championships at Millfield School. The ridge course and other irregularities ruled it out as a UK record, but it was a great morale booster. In June she reclaimed the record she had lost to Mary Peters three weeks earlier with 4,815 points, while in July she not only won the WAAA long jump with UK record jumps of 6.53m and 6.58m, but equaled the European 100-year record of 10.6. He was in fantastic form for his last pre-Olympic appearance in Portsmouth.
Admittedly, the following wind at 4.0 m/s was well over the limit, but she had about six inches (16 cm) to spare on the board as she matched Shchelkanova’s world record of 6.70 m.
After leading the qualifying round with an Olympic record of 6.52m, Rand opened with a British record of 6.59m, combined jumps of 6.56m and 6.57m, improved to 6.63m and then got that extraordinary jump of 6.76m in the fifth round.
As his coach John Le Masurier wrote. “Technically it was great – a quick approach as the body became vertical as he bent into a powerful takeoff. A perfect kick with legs stretched forward for a forward landing and enough forward speed to allow him to stand in the sand.”
It was a premature performance as there was a 1.6m headwind and the clay runway was wet from the rain. From the synthetic surface and with that amount of wind in his favor, he might have jumped well closer than seven meters, a distance that wouldn’t be achieved for another dozen years.
In the pentathlon, which began two days later, Rand again competed brilliantly, becoming only the second woman ever to break the 5,000 mark. She amassed a 5035 (10.9 hurdles, 11.05m shot put, 1.72m high jump, 6.55m long jump, 24.2 200m) and finished ahead of Irina Press in three of the five events.
However, she lost so many points to Pres in the shot put, no fewer than 384, that the muscular Soviet athlete won by 211 points for a record 5,246 points.
Randy’s movie star looks and sunny disposition, combined with her Olympic triumph, made her a true ‘golden girl’ of British athletics. He was named BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1964 and was awarded an MBE.
His impressive list of personal bests included 10.6 100h, 11.7 100m, 23.99 and 23.69w 200m, 56.5 440h, 10.8 80m hurdles, 13.4 and 13.3w 100m, 13.3w 100m, 7mm length, 13.3w. jump, 12.25 shot put, 5035 pentathlon. She was also credited with pioneering the 12.22m triple jump in 1959 (“I don’t know why that’s not a proper event for women,” she remarked in 1964) and even competed in the one-mile walk.
Anne Packer (Brightwell), who won her gold medal in the 800m in Tokyo just days after Rand, summed up what many believed. “Mary was the most talented athlete I have ever seen. He was as good as athletes get.”
Achievements.
1966: British Empire and Commonwealth Games long jump gold
1964: Olympic long jump gold, pentathlon silver; 4x100m bronze
1962: European championship long jump bronze; 4x100m bronze
1958: British Empire and Commonwealth Games long jump silver
