 Rand in 1966 | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Nationality | British (English) |
| Born | Mary Denise Bignal (1940-02-10)10 February 1940 (age 85) Wells, Somerset, England |
| Height | 1.73 m (5 ft 8 in) |
| Weight | 61 kg (134 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event(s) | pentathlon, long jump, high jump |
| Club | London Olympiades AC |
Medal record | |
Mary Denise Rand,MBE (néeBignal; born 10 February 1940) is a British formertrack and field athlete. She won thelong jump at the1964 Summer Olympics by breaking the world record, the first British female to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field. UntilEmma Finucane in2024, she was the only British female athlete to win three medals in a single Games.
Mary Rand is the daughter of Eric and Hilda Bignal. She was born and grew up inWells,Somerset, England. At 16,Millfield School offered her an athletics scholarship. She excelled in all sports and won All-England Schools' titles. She was outstanding athigh jump, long jump andhurdles. In 1956, she was a guest of the Olympic squad at a training camp inBrighton, where she beat Britain's best high jumpers.
At 17, Rand set a British record of 4,046 points in the pentathlon.[1] She was selected for England[2] and won a silver medal in the1958 Commonwealth Games the long jump and came fifth in the high jump. One month later she came seventh in the Europeanpentathlon championship.
In the1960 Olympics inRome, she set a British record of 6.33 m in the qualifying round of the long jump, which if repeated, would have won a silver in the final. In the final she fouled two of the three jumps and finished ninth. She also finished fourth in the 80 m hurdles. She won a bronze medal in the European championship long jump in 1962.[3]
At the1964 Olympics inTokyo, Rand set an Olympic record in the long jump in the qualifying rounds, jumping 6.52 m. In the final she beat the favourite, world record holderTatyana Schelkanova of theUSSR and Poland'sIrena Kirszenstein. Her first jump of 6.59m was a British record. However, in the fifth round, on a wet runway with a headwind of 1.6 metres a second, she broke theworld record, leaping 6.76 m to take gold. Her record lasted four years until it was brokenat altitude byViorica Viscopoleanu in the Mexico City Olympics.
Rand won the silver medal in the pentathlon, her 5,035 points putting her second in the all-time rankings. She was beaten to the gold byIrina Press, whose biological sex has been the subject of speculation.[4] She also won a bronze as a member of the Great Britain team that finished third in the 4 × 100 metres relay.[5]
Six days after Rand won the gold medal, her roommateAnn Packer won the 800 metres. Packer said: "Mary was the most gifted athlete I ever saw. She was as good as athletes get, there has never been anything like her since. And I don't believe there ever will."
Rand was made aMember of the Order of the British Empire (MBE) in the1965 New Year Honours for services to athletics and votedBBC Sports Personality of the Year for 1964.[6]
After Tokyo, her training was less intensive, but she won a gold in the long jump at the1966 Commonwealth Games. Due to injury, she failed to make the 1968 British Olympic team and retired in September that year.
Rand also heldthe world record in the triple jump from 1959 to 1981; it was unofficial as a world record because the women's triple jump was not recognised by the International Association of Athletics Federations until 1990.[7]
Rand won 12 nationalWAAA Championships; sixlong jump titles (1959, 1961, & 1963 to 1966) twohigh jump titles (1958 & 1959) twosprint hurdles (1959 & 1966) and twopentathlon titles (1959 & 1960).[8][9]
There is a plaque commemorating the world record long jump (6.76 metres) by Rand at the 1964 Olympic Games in the Market Place inWells, the distance being marked out by a row of Olympic rings set into the pavement. She was succeeded as Golden Girl of British athletics by her friend and London Olympiades club-mate,Lillian Board.
In 2009, Rand was inducted into theEngland Athletics Hall of Fame.
On 26 January 2012 Wells awarded her the Freedom of the City, following a campaign started byWells resident Tony Williams.[10]
Around 1960 Bignal dated Dutch decathleteEef Kamerbeek. In 1961 she met rowerSid Rand. Three days after meeting she agreed to marry him and they married five weeks later.[11] They had a daughter, Alison. The marriage lasted five years.
In December 1969, she married her second husband, AmericanBill Toomey, the 1968 Olympics' decathlon champion. This marriage lasted 22 years and they had two daughters, Samantha and Sarah. She later married John Reese and lives with him inAtascadero,California, in the United States.[12] She holds dual UK/US citizenship.[13]
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). ukonline.co.uk{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Times-olympics.co.uk. Retrieved on 6 December 2013.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link). Sporting Life{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link).The Olympian. Winter 2004. p. 7
| Records | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by | Women's Long Jump World Record Holder 1964-10-14 – 1968-10-14 | Succeeded by |
| Preceded by | Women's Triple Jump World Record Holder Not officially ratified by the IAAF 1959-06-18 – 1981-05-09 | Succeeded by |
Commonwealth Games champions in women'slong jump | |
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