 Mathews (center) at the 1956 Olympics | |
| Personal information | |
|---|---|
| Born | 14 July 1934 (1934-07-14) (age 91) |
| Height | 170 cm (5 ft 7 in) |
| Weight | 64 kg (141 lb) |
| Sport | |
| Sport | Athletics |
Event | Sprint |
| Club | Western Suburbs AAC, Sydney |
| Achievements and titles | |
| Personalbest(s) | 100 m – 11.4 (1956) 200 m – 23.3 (1958) 400 m – 56.7 (1957)[1][2] |
Marlene Judith MathewsAO (laterWillard; born 14 July 1934) is a retired AustralianOlympicsprinter. She has been described as 'one of Australia's greatest and unluckiest' champions.[3][why?]
Mathews attendedFort Street High School inSydney and began competing inathletics in the late 1940s.
At the 1950Australian Championships, she placed fourth, behindShirley Strickland, in the 80 m hurdles and ran in the winning state relay team,[4] but was not selected for the1950 British Empire Games team.
A few days after her 16th birthday at the NSW Championships, she ran a great race at theNew South Wales Championships 100 yards final, placing second to world record-holderMarjorie Jackson and beating four members of the Australian Empire Games team, including Olympic medalist Strickland.[5]
Mathews was considered a certainty to gain selection to the1952 Summer Olympics before a leg injury forced her out of competition.[6]
In 1954, recovered from her injuries, she ran second to Jackson in the National 100 yards championship (and third in the 220 yards)[4] and was duly selected to run in her first international championships at the1954 British Empire and Commonwealth Games in Vancouver. She was unlucky again, breaking down injured in her heat of the 100 yards.[1][4]
At the1956 Olympics inMelbourne, she won two bronze medals, over100 metres and200 metres. In both races she was beaten by countrywomanBetty Cuthbert (gold) and GermanChrista Stubnick (silver).[1][4]
In a controversial move, she was left out of the gold-medal winning Australian 4×100 metres relay team as she was 'not considered a good relay runner" but soon after the Games she assisted an Australian team to world records for 4×200 metres and 4×220 yards relay events.[7]
She proved her versatility in the sprint events by setting a new world record at400 metres with 57.0 seconds on 6 January 1957.[8]
On 20 March 1958, at the Australian Championships, she set a new world record over 100 yards with 10.3 seconds,[8] and two days later she ran 220 yards in 23.4 seconds, which was also a world record.[8] In both races, she defeated world-record holder and Olympic champion Cuthbert.
At the1958 Commonwealth Games inCardiff,Wales, Mathews took out the 100 yards and 220 yards, again beating Cuthbert.[1] She was ranked #1 in the world for both 100 metres[9] and 200 metres[10] in both 1957 and 1958.
Mathews' final top-level competition was at the1960 Olympics inRome, where she was eliminated in the 100 metres semi-finals.[1][4]
Mathews married fireman Barry Willard in 1958 but they later separated. She was an assistant manager of the Australian Olympic Team at the1972 Olympics inMunich.[3] She became a Member of theOrder of Australia (AM) in 1979 for her services to athletics, and anOfficer of the Order of Australia (AO) in 1999. Mathews was inducted into the Sport Australia Hall of Fame in 1985[3] and into the Athletics Australia Hall of Fame in 2010.[11] In 1993, theState Transit Authority named aRiverCat ferry after Mathews. In February 2025 Rivercat "Marlene Mathews" was retired from service before being scrapped in July 2025.[12] In 2018 a bronze sculpture of her (and one ofBetty Cuthbert) was unveiled at theSydney Cricket Ground in Sydney, Australia.[13] This makes them the first female athletes added to the bronze sculptures in theSydney Cricket Ground precinct.[14]
Personal bests[5]
| Event | Time | Wind | Place | Date |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 100 y | 10.3 | 0.0 | Sydney, Australia | 20 March 1958 |
| 100 m | 11.5 | – | Sydney, Australia | 10 March 1956 |
| 200 m | 23.4 | 0.0 | Sydney, Australia | 22 March 1958 |
| 220 y | 23.4 | 0.0 | Sydney, Australia | 22 March 1958 |
| 400 m | 57.0 | – | Sydney, Australia | 6 January 1957 |
| 440 y | 57.0 | – | Sydney, Australia | 6 January 1957 |
World Records[5]
| Event | Time | Place | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| 100 y | 10.3 | Sydney, Australia | 20 March 1958 |
| 200 m | 23.4 | Sydney, Australia | 22 March 1958 |
| 400 m | 57.0 | Sydney, Australia | 6 January 1957 |
| 440 y | 57.0 | Sydney, Australia | 6 January 1957 |
| 4 × 200 m | 1–36.3 | Sydney, Australia | 5 December 1956 |
| 4 × 220 y | 1–36.3 | Sydney, Australia | 5 December 1956 |
World Rankings – 100m[9] and 200m[10] – rankings commenced in 1956.
| Year | Event | Ranking |
|---|---|---|
| 1956 | 100m | 3 |
| 200m | 4 | |
| 1957 | 100m | 1 |
| 200m | 1 | |
| 1958 | 100m | 1 |
| 200m | 1 | |
| 1959 | 100m | 2 |
| 1960 | 100m | 9 |
Australian Championships Record[4] – prior to 1963 Championships were held every two years
| Year | 100y | 220y | 80m hurdles | 4×110y relay |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1950 | – | – | 4 | 1 |
| 1952 | – | – | – | – |
| 1954 | 2 | 3 | – | 1 |
| 1956 | 3 | 2 | – | 1 |
| 1958 | 1 | 1 | – | 1 |
| 1960 | 3 | DNQ | – | 2 |
{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: bot: original URL status unknown (link)Commonwealth Games champions in women's100 metres | |
|---|---|
| 100 yards (1934–1966) | |
| 100 metres (1970–present) |
|
Commonwealth Games champions in women's200 metres | |
|---|---|
| 220 yards (1934–1966) | |
| 200 metres (1970–present) |
|
