Mary Rand, the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in athletics, has died at the age of 86.
Rand secured the long jump title at the Tokyo Games in 1964, also winning silver in the inaugural women’s pentathlon and bronze in the 4x100m relay.
That meant she also became the first British woman to win gold, silver and bronze at a single Olympic Games.
In the long jump, Rand broke the British and Olympic records with her first leap of 6.59m and then smashed the world record on her fifth attempt with an effort of 6.76m.
“Mary was the most gifted athlete I ever saw,” said Ann Packer, who won 800m gold at the 1964 Olympics days after Rand’s triumph and was her room-mate in Tokyo.
“She was as good as athletes get. There has never been anything like her since – and I don’t believe there ever will.”
Rand, whose first husband was British rower Sydney Rand, also won long jump gold at the 1966 Commonwealth Games in Jamaica.
However, injury denied her the chance to defend her Olympic title in 1968 and she retired at the age of 28 the same year.
Born in Wells, Somerset, she was only 17 when she set her first British record in the pentathlon, and she won 12 national titles across long jump, high jump, sprint hurdles and pentathlon during her illustrious career.
Rand was voted the BBC Sports Personality of the Year in 1964 and was awarded an MBE in the 1965 New Year Honours List.
