Rand, Mary Denise

▪ British athlete

née  Mary Bignal 

born February 10, 1940, Wells, Somerset, England

      British track-and-field athlete, who won a gold medal in the long jump at the 1964 Olympics in Tokyo to become the first British woman to win an Olympic gold medal in track and field.

      Rand competed at the 1960 Games in Rome, finishing ninth in the long jump after a strong start. In 1962 she finished second in the European championships in Belgrade, Yugoslavia. At the 1964 Games she jumped 6.76 metres (22 feet 2¹/₄ inches), despite a headwind, to take the gold. She also won a silver in the pentathlon and a bronze in the 4 × 100-metre relay. In 1966 Rand won the gold medal in the long jump at the Commonwealth Games in Kingston, Jamaica. She was awarded the Member of the British Empire in 1965.

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