Mary Rand, first British woman to win Olympic gold in athletics, dies aged 86 | UK News
Mary Rand, the first British woman to win an Olympic gold in athletics, has died aged 86. She won the long jump title when she competed at the Tokyo Games in 1964. Rand, who was born in Wells, Somerset, broke the British and Olympic records with her first attempt at 6.59 metres, and in her final effort she smashed the world record with a leap of 6.76m. Aged 24 at the time, she also won silver in the inaugural women’s pentathlon, and bronze as a member of the 4x100m relay team in Japan, becoming the first British woman to win gold, silver and bronze at a single Olympics. No British woman has held the gold title since. In a post on X, UK Athletics said: “UK Athletics is saddened to hear of the death of Olympic, European and Commonwealth champion Mary Rand, at the age of 86. “She became the first British woman to win three medals at a single Olympic Games at Tokyo 1964 and blazed a trail for women in the sport.” X …
