Teresa SANDERSON

A few months after Tessa Sanderson was born, her father went to England in search of work. When her mother joined him a year later, Tessa stayed in Jamaica where she was raised by her grandmother. In the spring of 1965, however, the nine-year-old Tessa was reunited with her parents, although her joy was tempered by the unattractive contrast between her tropical island home and the bleak industrial Midlands where Tessa's parents had settled.

After some promising performances in schools competition, Tessa Sanderson joined the Wolverhampton & Bilston AC where, in addition to her obvious potential as a javelin thrower, she showed great promise as a pentathlete. In 1975 she won the first of her eight British javelin titles and the following year she improved the UK record three times before finishing tenth at the Montréal Olympic Games. In 1977, Tessa improved her personal best in the javelin by exactly 10 metres and moved into second place on the all-time list; she then confirmed her position in 1978 by taking the Commonwealth title and finishing second at the European Championships. Her ambitions received a severe setback when she failed to qualify for the final at the 1980 Moscow Olympics, but four years later she took the gold medal in Los Angeles to become the first British woman to win a throwing event at the Olympics.

Although injury had prevented her from competing in the European and Commonwealth meets in 1982, she did win the Commonwealth title in 1986. But at the 1988 Olympics she was again handicapped by injury and did not qualify for the final. This was not to be her final Olympic appearance as she returned in 1992, where she narrowly missed a medal, and again at the age of 40 in Atlanta. As of 2011, she is the only British woman to compete at six Olympic Games.

After winning her third Commonwealth gold in 1990, she won her eighth WAAA javelin title and earned a place on the team for the European Championships. Surprisingly, this was the first time she had competed in the European Championships since winning a silver medal in 1978, but in Split in 1990 she finished back in 12th place. During her career, Tessa Sanderson set ten UK javelin records, of which five were also Commonwealth bests, and in 1981 she twice posted new UK and Commonwealth records for the heptathlon.

After her retirement from competition she founded the Tessa Sanderson Foundation and Academy, a charity which attempts to educate youngsters through sport, and also served as a vice-chair of Sport England. She is also a member of the board of the Olympic Park Legacy Company.

Personal Bests: JTold – 73.58 (241-4½) (1983); Hep – 6125 (1981).