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Lillian Board
Lillian Barbara Board, MBE (13 December 1948 – 26 December 1970) was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life at the age of 22.
Board was born in Durban, South Africa on 13 December 1948. Her parents, George and Frances Board, had emigrated from Manchester, England in April 1947 with their son, George Alfred. Growing homesick, shortly after the birth of Lillian and her fraternal twin sister, Irene, the family moved back to Manchester in February 1950.
In 1956, the family moved to Ealing, west London, where Lillian and Irene, then aged 7, started studying at Drayton Green School.
In 1960, at the age of 11, Lillian and her sister moved to Grange Secondary Modern Girls' School, also in Ealing and now part of The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls. It was here in 1961 that Physical Education teacher Sue Gibson (a Middlesex county discus champion) spotted that Lillian, now aged 12, had a special talent for running. She took her to join London Olympiades, the leading all-female athletics club, which had a training base at Alperton, north-west London. Here she competed in relays and 100 and 150-yard sprints.
The following year, 1962, she began competing in the long jump and after training through that winter, improved markedly as both a sprinter and long jumper.
In 1963, aged 14, she won the junior long jump title at the All-England Schools Championships (now known as The English Schools Championships) with a leap of 17 ft 3 in (5.26 m), and then finished second (17 ft 5+3⁄4 in or 5.328 m) in the long jump at the Women's Amateur Athletic Association's national junior championships. She ended the season with victory in the long jump at the Southern Inter-Counties meeting, her leap of 17 ft 8+1⁄2 in (5.40 m) the best by a British junior girl that year.
Trained by her father George and inspired by an illustrious club-mate, international long jumper and pentathlete Mary Rand, she concentrated on the sprints from the 1964 season with an emphasis on strength work and with a view to eventually moving up from the short sprints to the 440 and 880 yards, where George felt sure her future lay. She made her debut over both 220 yds and 880 yds in 1964, winning both events in times of 26.2 and 2:30.8, respectively.
In 1965, aged 16, Board was a member of the London Olympiades squad that won the 4 × 100 m relay title at the Women's AAA junior championships. Later that year, she showed her versatility with a career best leap of 5.80 m in the Long Jump and indoor wins over 60 yards (7.2) and 300 yards (42.0). She also lowered her 100 y best time to 10.9 and her 220 y best to 24.7.
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Lillian Board
Lillian Barbara Board, MBE (13 December 1948 – 26 December 1970) was a British athlete. She won the silver medal in the 400 metres at the 1968 Summer Olympics in Mexico City, and two gold medals at the 1969 European Championships in Athletics in Athens. Her career was cut short in 1970 when she developed the colorectal cancer that within months would claim her life at the age of 22.
Board was born in Durban, South Africa on 13 December 1948. Her parents, George and Frances Board, had emigrated from Manchester, England in April 1947 with their son, George Alfred. Growing homesick, shortly after the birth of Lillian and her fraternal twin sister, Irene, the family moved back to Manchester in February 1950.
In 1956, the family moved to Ealing, west London, where Lillian and Irene, then aged 7, started studying at Drayton Green School.
In 1960, at the age of 11, Lillian and her sister moved to Grange Secondary Modern Girls' School, also in Ealing and now part of The Ellen Wilkinson School for Girls. It was here in 1961 that Physical Education teacher Sue Gibson (a Middlesex county discus champion) spotted that Lillian, now aged 12, had a special talent for running. She took her to join London Olympiades, the leading all-female athletics club, which had a training base at Alperton, north-west London. Here she competed in relays and 100 and 150-yard sprints.
The following year, 1962, she began competing in the long jump and after training through that winter, improved markedly as both a sprinter and long jumper.
In 1963, aged 14, she won the junior long jump title at the All-England Schools Championships (now known as The English Schools Championships) with a leap of 17 ft 3 in (5.26 m), and then finished second (17 ft 5+3⁄4 in or 5.328 m) in the long jump at the Women's Amateur Athletic Association's national junior championships. She ended the season with victory in the long jump at the Southern Inter-Counties meeting, her leap of 17 ft 8+1⁄2 in (5.40 m) the best by a British junior girl that year.
Trained by her father George and inspired by an illustrious club-mate, international long jumper and pentathlete Mary Rand, she concentrated on the sprints from the 1964 season with an emphasis on strength work and with a view to eventually moving up from the short sprints to the 440 and 880 yards, where George felt sure her future lay. She made her debut over both 220 yds and 880 yds in 1964, winning both events in times of 26.2 and 2:30.8, respectively.
In 1965, aged 16, Board was a member of the London Olympiades squad that won the 4 × 100 m relay title at the Women's AAA junior championships. Later that year, she showed her versatility with a career best leap of 5.80 m in the Long Jump and indoor wins over 60 yards (7.2) and 300 yards (42.0). She also lowered her 100 y best time to 10.9 and her 220 y best to 24.7.