Mary Rand, one of Britain’s greatest-ever Olympians, has died at the age of 86.
The track and field athlete became the first British female Olympian to receive three medals at a single Olympics in 1964 with her triumphs in Tokyo in the long jump, pentathlon, and 100m relay.
This record would not be broken until Emma Finucane’s achievements 60 years later at the Paris Games in 2024.
Rand claimed bronze in the relay, a silver medal for pentathlon, and long jump gold in Japan, and in doing so, became the first British woman to top the podium in a track and field event at the Olympics.
The world record she set that day – 6.76metres – held for four years.
In 2009, Rand was inducted into the England Athletics Hall of Fame, having previously won Sports Personality of the Year after her Tokyo victories, and earned an MBE in 1965.
Rand also won long jump gold at the 1966 Commonwealth Games.
Fellow Olympic gold medallist Ann Packer, who roomed with Rand in 1964, called her Team GB team-mate the ‘most gifted athlete (she) ever saw.’
‘She was as good as athletes get, there has never been anything like her since,’ Packer said. ‘And I don’t believe there ever will.
‘They were horrible conditions but I think they would say now that I was “in the zone”,’ Rand told Daily Mail Sport’s Oliver Holt in 2020 of her glittering gold long jump performance.
‘I set a world record (6.76 metres), against the wind. On five of my six jumps, I beat the Olympic record.
‘When I realised I’d won, it was relief and joy. It happens so quickly and you are up on the podium and you wish you could go back and do it again.’
British Athletics paid tribute to the track and field superstar on social media, sharing how ‘saddened’ the organisation was to hear of her passing.
‘UK Athletics is saddened to hear of the death of Olympic, European and Commonwealth champion Mary Rand, at the age of 86,’ the statement read. ‘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.’
